Two Destinies Part 2
by augla39354
Summary: Tales of Eternia x Tales of Destiny 2 crossover! Read Part 1 first! This is a continuation of Two Destinies Part 1. Rated T for language.
1. Prologue: Second Chances

**Two Destinies Part 2: Prologue: Second Chances**

**Author's Preface: **Before you ask, my writing hiatus is NOT done yet. It's not the end of January yet, is it? Didn't think so. I just had a little inspiration burst, that's all. This chapter should sufficiently answer some of your questions... Or will it only bring up more questions? Heh heh heh... *shot* Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

The moon was full, which shined sufficient light upon Celestia as the silhouettes of five solemn heroes and one fallen hero came out into the moonlight. The light from the moon above made the skin of the dead hero seem even more ghostly pale. A red haired young man held his fallen friend in his arms, staring at what had once been the enthusiastic young teenager who was his friend. His other friends gathered around as they fully took in the burden of what had happened a little less than moments ago.

"Reid..." A girl with dark green hair placed a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Is everything all right?" Reid closed his eyes.

"Not exactly, Farah..." Reid said, looking away. "I can't believe this... Kyle... You're really dead... I never would have thought that this would happen..."

"He was rather reckless..." The blue haired boy sighed, trying to hide his sadness with little avail. Under his breath, he added, "I'm gonna miss Kyle calling Craymels "Caramels"..."

"Keele DOES miss Kyle, then?" The purple haired girl said, the usual bounce to her voice having faded a little. "Meredy knows that Keele actually liked Kyle deep down." Keele blushed.

"H-he was rather annoying..." Keele said. The others stared at him angrily. Seconds later, Keele added, "...though I'm sorry that he had to die like that..." The angry faces on Keele's friends faded away, revealing a small smile on each of them that too faded as their thoughts returned to Kyle.

Even though all of them were sad, Reid was the most upset. He was the one who had become closest of friends with the blond haired teenager. Maybe it was because they both were swordsmen. Maybe because they both were usually very cheery. Perhaps it was because they shared a distaste for whatever Keele had to say. It might be because they had both really enjoyed Farah's cooking. Whatever the reason was, Reid and Kyle had been really good friends. However, Reid was now staring at the pale face of his friend, knowing that he would never see that huge grin that had always caused him to smile in return or those bright blue eyes that reminded him of the sky in Inferia. Part of Reid wanted to cry, but he knew that he had to stay strong.

"I hate to bring up such a senseless suggestion..." The young dark skinned girl with a large hat spoke up just then. "How about we return to the Van Eltia? All of us, even him." The girl pointed at Kyle.

"Good idea, Chat..." Farah said, looking out toward the sea. "We can decide what to do once we get back on board." She started walking away from the cave, with the others following – except Reid. He held back a couple seconds, still staring at Kyle. After being beckoned by Meredy, Reid caught up to his friends, still carrying the burden of lost friendship in his arms.

* * *

_Kyle..._ A familiar voice echoed gently in Kyle's ears. _Kyle, wake up..._ Despite the wishes of the person calling out to him, Kyle refused to open his eyes. For the first time in a long time, he felt truly comfortable. His body was being cradled in comfort and he was truly happy. However, this sensation was interrupted by a hand feeling his forehead, followed by his cheek. Kyle's eyes opened slowly. An individual with eyes that sparkled like sapphires and long golden hair kneeled over him, having one warm hand of theirs placed on his cheek. Kyle smiled.

"Dad?" He said softly as he looked up into a face that very similar to his own. The person hovering over him closed his eyes and smiled.

"You're finally up..." He said, moving his hand over his son's face. "You certainly do take after me..." Kyle sat up and took in the sight before him for a couple seconds before jumping onto his father and nearly knocking him over with a hug.

"Dad!" Kyle repeated, so overcome with joy that he was about to cry. After recovering from the initial shock of being nearly knocked over, Kyle's father returned the hug, smiling lovingly. After a moment of embrace, the two blondes looked into each other's blue eyes. Kyle spoke up first. "Dad, what are you doing here?" He asked, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

"That's actually what I was wondering..." The older blonde said. "What are YOU doing HERE, Kyle?" Kyle raised an eyebrow in response. This certainly wasn't the answer he was expecting.

"What exactly are you talking about?"

"Just look around you, Kyle..." On his father's suggestion, he finally took in his surroundings. They were surrounded by clouds on all sides, ranging from puffy and white to grey and stormy. And then, he took another look at his father. This person looked just like all of the descriptions of the hero Stahn Aileron – long blond hair, blue eyes, and a large, caring smile. However, there was something different about his appearance. Instead of blue-trimmed armor that all the stories had described, the man in front of Kyle was wearing armor that was gilded. The green headband that was made so famous in all of the hero stories that Kyle had grown up with was replaced with a silver one. Other than the changed color scheme, Stahn looked identical to the descriptions in the stories.

However, while Kyle was examining his father and pondering about why his father was wearing a different colored outfit, magical white lights appeared from behind Stahn and, within seconds, six shimmering barely golden wings fluttered in place slowly, and Kyle stared at them silently for a few seconds, feeling both shocked and awed. It was at that moment when Kyle realized why his father had asked why HE was there.

"So, we're in heaven..." Kyle said softly. "...which means that we're dead..." Stahn's eyes drooped a little at this statement.

"Just as I feared..." He said, looking away. As he looked away, Kyle noticed something strange on his father's neck that, despite hiding behind Stahn's massive mullet, was pretty well visible. Kyle gasped when he saw this.

"Dad? What's that on your neck?" Stahn's eyes quickly focused on his son once again upon hearing the question. After a second, he sighed.

"No use keeping secrets from you..." He said afterward. "You remember all those dreams that you've been having about me? During the first one is when I got this:" He moved his hair aside to reveal a strange symbol printed on his neck. "It's a Melnic letter. I believe it's the Melnic letter A."

"Why the letter A?"

"I think it stands for one of two things: Our last name, "Aileron", or for "Angel". I have a hunch that it's probably the latter, though."

"How did you get that?"

"I was captured by two demons when I first arrived in Eternia in order to keep protecting you. They sealed that into my skin with dark magic. Shortly after, though, I was rescued by another angel and... well, you know the rest..."

"I do?" Kyle scratched his head and tried to think back to a point he might remember something. However, a grunt from his father broke his thoughts.

"Dammit, this stupid thing's acting up again..." His hand was placed on his neck. After a second, Stahn's eyes constricted as a thought entered his head.

"Dad, is something wrong?" Kyle's head was tilted innocently.

"Dammit! This is bad! Everytime this mark has started hurting, those damn demons have come after me... And if they find you here, they're going to start coming after you!"

"Wait, what demons? What are you going to do?" Kyle wrapped his hands around his father's arm. Stahn sighed.

"I'm going to do something very risky... But it's the only way to keep you safe..." Stahn slid his arm out from his son's grasp and started to rise into the air.

"Very risky?" Kyle said under his breath. He then began to plead with wild gesticulation. "Dad! You don't have to do anything risky! I'll fight those demons alongside of you!"

"No, Kyle..." A hint of sadness was lingering on his voice. "You have no idea what to expect... The demons are very cunning and evil. If they get their hands on you, they'll torture you until they get what they want..."

"But Dad..."

"I'm doing this because I love you... I became your guardian angel because I love you and I want to protect you... I'm just doing my duty as your guardian angel to protect you..." At this point, Stahn had floated above Kyle's reach, all six of his magnificent wings fully extended. Kyle looked at the puffy clouds under his feet.

"I remember now... You had said in Melnics that 'I will no longer be'..." Kyle looked up at his father. "What did you mean by that?"

"My message was cut off... What I was trying to say was that I will no longer be _fudinn_..."

"Fudinn? What exactly does that..." Kyle was cut off as his father began to chant in a voice that was strangely still his voice and not his at the same time.

"_I sewadindzu furetsun..._" He began chanting in Melnics. "_Guunun tsun tan pibandi ifu tan Painmuuzu, tan pibandi tii tidiemusuwanmudzu ruufun..._" Kyle was beginning to get very confused as to why his Orz Earring wasn't working. Thinking that he didn't have it, he touched his ear. The earring was still there. But then why wasn't it working? Just then, Stahn began to speak in a familiar language and voice again. "Close your eyes, Kyle..." He said. "It was not yet time for you to die... You still need to fufill your true destiny as a hero..." Kyle gasped.

"Wait, did you just say that my destiny is to become a hero?!?" A supremely joyful feeling swelled up inside of Kyle, as if he was going to burst with excitement. His greatest dream was going to come true! A bright smile illuminated Kyle's entire face. However, Kyle's reverie was broken by his father's voice sounding very panicky.

"Kyle, hurry!" He said, his wings begining to glow red, as if they were on fire. "You have to close your eyes! I only have one shot at this, and, if it fails, we're both in trouble!" Kyle nodded, then closed his eyes. After taking a deep breath, Stahn closed his eyes and continued his spell. "Give this child another chance to fufill the destiny that has been decided..." At this point, Stahn's wings were completely glowing fire red. His eyes shot open and he threw his hands forward towards Kyle. "PHOENIX... REVIVER!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

_I will be a hero..._ Kyle thought while this was going on. _I shall fufill my destiny and become a great hero... _Just then, Kyle felt a warm sensation throughout his body. The heat was rather comforting, but it kept getting warmer and warmer. Just as the heat got to a point where it was almost unbearable, Kyle felt a strange sensation in his stomach, as if he was moving. And then, the heat and movement faded away, leaving Kyle feeling somewhat cold. Kyle opened his eyes slowly. He was staring up at a metallic ceiling. Just then, he heard a familiar voice.

"No, Meredy." It said. "You can't come in. I'm doing things in here."

"Come on, Keele!" Meredy's voice said. "Meredy would just like to see something! Let Meredy in!" Just then, there was a scraping sound, followed by a thud.

"Ow!" Keele said. "Was that really necessary, Meredy?!?" Kyle rotated his head slightly so he could see just what Meredy and Keele were doing. Just then, he heard Meredy gasp.

"KYLE!" She yelled, pointing at him. "Meredy saw Kyle move! Kyle is looking at Meredy!"

"What?!? Impossible!" Keele said, picking himself off of the floor. His eyes quickly met Kyle's, and, after a couple seconds, Keele yelped. "Z-zombie!" He said. "I-It's a zombie!" Kyle sat up, still looking at Keele and Meredy. Keele flinched even more when he saw Kyle move. "P-please d-don't hurt m-me, Kyle Z-zombie..." Kyle was now slightly annoyed at being called a zombie, but an evil thought entered his head. What if he played along with "being a zombie"? He stood up and slowly walked over towards Keele, the blue haired scholar getting more panicky with each step being taken towards him. Meredy just stood and watched. Just as he was a couple steps away from Keele, Kyle felt a hard whack over his head. The blond teenager slumped to the floor, holding his head in pain.

"Oww..." He whined. "My head..." Keele stood up and held his staff over Kyle, ready to hit him on the head again. However, Meredy intervened.

"Stop, Keele!" She said. "Kyle is not a zombie, Kyle is Kyle!" Keele looked at Meredy, then back at Kyle.

"Impossible." He said. "Kyle is dead... I ran an autopsy, and I got proof that he was completely dead..."

"Do I LOOK dead to you?!?" Kyle said angrily, finally having recovered from his head injury. Keele stared at Kyle for a few seconds, his face transfiguring with amazement.

"Impossible..." He said for the third time, this time with awe. "Your skin... It's returned to a healthy hue... And the cuts and blood on your face are gone... You really ARE alive... But how?" Just then, Meredy wrapped her arms around Kyle's neck and gave him a hug.

"Kyle is back!" She said. "Meredy is so happy! Meredy must tell Reid, Farah, and Chat that Kyle is back!" Kyle stood up.

"I'll tell them myself." He said, a smile returning to his face. Meredy's arms moved to around his arm. Keele kept staring.

"Amazing..." He said under his breath. "This is unlike anything I've ever seen... A clearly dead individual, brought back to life and not being a zombie... But does he remember what happened before he died?" Just then, as his thoughts snapped back to reality, he realized that Meredy and Kyle had already left the room without him. "Wait for me!" He cried, rushing out of the room.

* * *

Stahn had watched his son be incinerated by his own doing before his very eyes, but he knew that when nothing remained afterward, he had succeeded in using the spell. He smiled at his success, but then, a rush of intense pain ran throughout his body. His wings failed working, and he plummeted down to the ground. Fortunately, he landed on fluffy clouds, which absorbed most of the impact. After a couple of seconds, Stahn struggled to his feet, but then collapsed to his hands and knees. He gasped aloud as he tried to regain his breath, but it would not come back to him. "Dammit..." He whispered to himself. "I'm so weak right now... Those demons are going to capture me for sure..." He took a deep breath before continuing. "But at least Kyle is safe... That's what's most important right now..." Just then, Stahn felt the clouds undulate a little under him. Somebody had landed nearby. _Dammit..._ Stahn thought. _Here they come..._

"Well, what have we here?" An unfamiliar voice said. However, the voice didn't seem demonic in nature. "A fallen angel, have we?"

"Who are you?" Stahn said weakly, trying to move his head so he could see who was talking to him.

"I am Tellezherael Axaras. However, you may call me by my surname. May I ask of your name? Or shall I just call you Fallen Angel?"

"The name's Stahn Aileron..." He said. "Don't call me a Fallen Angel..."

"Can you even stand, Aileron?" Axaras said. "What exactly took so much energy out of you? It's not like _Emugunrusu _have mortal energy limits..."

"My son... didn't deserve to die at such a young age... And I wouldn't let him be tortured by demons..."

"Ahh... So you performed the forbidden spell, didn't you? Normally, you should be punished by trying such a spell... But being in such a helpless state seems like punishment enough..."

"You didn't come to punish me, did you?"

"Actually, I came to help you, just like I did that other time..." Axaras stepped into Stahn's limited sight range, and the blond angel gasped at the sight. An angel with short black hair, fair skin, a white robe, and slightly blueish wings was standing before him.

"It's you!" He said. "You're the one who saved me from the demons before! I never got to thank you!"

"It was no trouble. However, you might be in some trouble now. You see, us _Emugunrusu_ expend a lot of magical energy to sustain our humanesque forms. Your magic is nearing depletion. There is only one way for you to save yourself."

"What's that?"

"You must take another form." Axaras placed a hand over Stahn's head. "One that won't expend as much energy. That way, you can regain your magic power and return to your former strength. I shall assist you, if you'd like."

"Thank you..." Stahn said weakly. "I entrust myself with you..."

"Just close your eyes and believe in me..." Stahn did as instructed, and he felt his body fade away into nothing. "With your spirit, I shall forge a holy blade that will slay all evil..." After another second, Stahn felt himself being shaped into something new, and soon, he had taken a new form - a beautiful golden sword with silver wings on its guard and a brilliant sapphire encrusted into the blade, which served as an eye. Through this sapphire eye, the world took on a blueish hue.

_So..._ Stahn thought._ I'm a sword now... I wonder if this similar to how Dymlos felt?_ His thoughts began to stray back to when he was nineteen years old - to his adventures with his trusty blade Swordian Dymlos, who he'd had to say goodbye to not long later.

"Your spirit is powerful..." Axaras said. "Such a magnificent sword could not be forged from a weaker spirit. This powerful sword should never be used by those without a pure heart..." Just as Axaras said that, the sword began to glow white-hot in his hand and, with a shout, he dropped it, and the sword sliced through the clouds and fell towards Celestia. "No!" He yelled as the sword disappeared from view. "This cannot be! ...Perhaps I should learn to keep silent..."

As he fell, Stahn's thoughts were not focused on what had just happened, but on Celestia below. _I'm falling..._ He thought. _I'm falling towards Celestia... I'm falling towards Kyle... Kyle..._

**Author's Nota Bene:** Well, this prologue was much longer than Part 1's prologue... (It's actually the size of a true chapter...) XD I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that it answered some of your questions from the end of Part 1. If you put Part 1 of this story on your alerts before, PLEASE PUT THIS PART ON YOUR ALERTS! Part 1 is no longer updating, so you won't hear about any updates from there. Don't expect to see anything else until the end of January! This is pretty much only a teaser chapter, I guess... XD Thanks again for reading! :D

**EDIT: **Fixed one subject clarification mistake that was made (I called Kyle "Keele" at one point... XD).


	2. Chapter 17: Friendship Never Dies

**Two Destinies Chapter 17: Friendship Never Dies**

**Author's Preface: **Good news! My writing hiatus is finally over! And a couple months early, too! Let me explain what happened: My English teacher gave an extended assignment to write five pages of stuff a week for the rest of the semester, and I decided what better thing to write about than my story? So, thanks to my teacher, I will be writing Two Destinies weekly and hopefully chapters will be released on a biweekly basis (depending on whether or not I can get to a computer or not…) So, this here is the compilation of two weeks worth of writing on my story. Enjoy!

* * *

Reid pushed the food on his plate around with his fork. He stared out through the red bangs that had fallen in front of his face down at the omelette that he had barely touched. In normal circumstances, Reid would have inhaled the omelette in a second. However, he was lost in thought. Farah, who had been cooking other food, looked over at Reid and instantly knew that he was feeling troubled.

"What's wrong, Reid?" She asked, already knowing the answer. She knew that Reid had been hit pretty hard by Kyle's death. That was the reason she had made the omelette in the first place; Farah had wanted Reid to get his mind off the tragedy by distracting him with one of his favorite meals. Her attempt had failed.

"I lost my appetite" was the excuse Reid gave as to why he wasn't eating. This statement was only partially true, stating only a small part of the truth. Farah understood. She dropped the subject instantly, not wanting to upset Reid any further. Just then, the kitchen door swung open and Meredy entered. She began to skip about the kitchen merrily, changing the mood of the room.

"Meredy…" Farah said. "What are you doing?" Though Meredy was always spunky and excited, she seemed to be even more so than usual.

"Meredy has a surprise!" The purple haired Celestian said. "Reid and Farah have to guess what Meredy's surprise is!" Reid and Farah exchanged confused glances. Neither of them had any idea as to what Meredy's surprise could possibly be. They both stared at her with a look that told her to just go ahead and reveal the surprise to them. Meredy understood, smiling. "Come in!" She called out, yelling toward the kitchen door. In response to Meredy calling to it, the kitchen door swung open slowly. Reid and Farah gasped as their eyes focused on the thing that was making the door move.

"K-Kyle?!?" Reid said, staring at the blond haired boy in the doorway. "Is that really you?"

"Yep!" Kyle said, grinning widely. "I'm back, you guys."

"But how?" Farah said. "We saw you die… How can…" She was cut off.

"Let's just say that I was given a second chance to fufill my destiny…" Kyle winked and gave a thumbs up. Reid and Farah ran up to where Kyle was standing and simultaneously wrapped their arms around the younger boy to give him a welcome-back hug.

"This is so unbelievable and amazing!" Reid said, all hints of earlier sadness having faded away. An idea popped into Reid's head just then. "Hey, Farah, can you make another omelette?" He asked.

"Why don't you eat what's on your plate first, Reid?" She said, removing her arms from around Kyle and crossing them in front of her. Reid chuckled.

"Not for me…" He said, arms still wrapped loosely around his younger friend, who made no effort to try and remove them. "It's for him. I mean, you haven't eaten since you… well, you know… Have you, Kyle?"

"I'm ravenous!" Kyle said. "I'm so hungry, I could eat an Eggbear!" Farah chuckled.

"All right." She said, walking over toward the stove. Before she got there, however, she stopped to look at Meredy. "Would you like to have something to eat, too, Meredy?" Meredy smiled.

"That is okay." She said. "Meredy is not hungry. But thank you for asking, Farah." Farah smiled, and then continued toward the stove in order to begin cooking.

* * *

After the meal, the team dispersed. Each of them headed off in a different direction. In particular, Reid went up to the open deck on the Van Eltia because he just felt like looking out at the ocean. However, Reid had forgotten that he was not in Inferia, and Celestia's ocean was a depressing grayish color, and that the sky over Celestia was no brighter with its everlasting expanse of stormy-looking clouds. Reid was quickly disheartened, and he sat down on the deck, starting to think about Inferia – about blue skies and bluer oceans. In fact, Reid had gotten so lost I thought, he hadn't heard Kyle opening the metallic door leading onto the deck and stepping out into the open.

"Hi, Reid!" The cheery blond teenager said. Reid snapped out of his reverie upon hearing Kyle's voice. He looked over toward his friend slowly, looking into his vibrant blue eyes which once again quickly brought his thoughts back to Inferia. Reid sighed.

"Hi, Kyle…" He answered in a monotone, eyes returning to the gray Celestian ocean. Kyle walked up next to Reid and sat down beside him, putting a hand on Reid's shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked. "You seem distracted…"

"I'm a little homesick…" Reid said without thinking. A second after saying that, Reid remembered something. No matter how far they traveled in Celestia, Reid's home was on the other side of the Orbus Barrier. Kyle's home was not. If anybody was supposed to be homesick, it should be Kyle. Reid looked at Kyle and saw that he was starting to look depressed. Reid wanted to hit himself for saying such a selfish statement. "I'm sorry for making you feel homesick, too…" He said.

"I'm not homesick…" Kyle lied, looking as if he was fighting back tears. "I was thinking about Reala… I had no idea that she had the ability to take her and me home… Instead… Barbatos…" Kyle's voice trailed off into oblivion as he choked up and nearly burst into tears. Reid, really feeling like a jerk now, tried to console his saddened friend with a pat on the back. However, this action meant to calm Kyle down did caused the opposite effect from the one Reid was hoping it would create; Kyle just completely lost it, deteriorating into a sobbing mass and sinking into Reid's arms. Reid knew better than to open his mouth again and cause further sadness – it was his stupid comment that had caused this in the first place. Instead, he just held his friend close and let him cry. Never before did Reid see Kyle in such a hopeless state, and it showed him that Kyle's tough exterior was capable of cracking. Reid really wished he could go back in time and stop himself from making Kyle cry.

A few seconds later, there was a loud and dull thudding sound from behind the two boys. Kyle wasn't paying any attention, but Reid turned his head and saw a large white object sprawled out on the deck. A second later, there was a loud and painful screeching noise. This was enough of a distraction to make Kyle stop crying. The two boys stared at the object while it began to move, revealing the shape of a giant seagull with a dark spot on its head and one bloody wing with its back facing the boys, trying to get back to its feet. Once it was standing, it turned around and spotted Reid and Kyle, staring at the boys with its fully constricted eyes. The bird bent over and screeched again even louder, causing the boys to cover their ears. A second later, the enraged bird charged. Reid and Kyle, though still surprised, had enough reflexes in them to quickly move out of harm's way.

"All right… You asked for this!" Reid yelled, unsheathing his sword. "You picked the wrong swordsmen to mess with, Bird! Let's take this guy, Kyle!" Kyle nodded, and then reached behind him to grab his own sword, but after groping around for a couple seconds, he realized that he didn't have his sword.

"Reid!" He yelled. "Do you have any idea where my sword is?!?" Reid turned to face Kyle, and then he began to think. The last time that stood out in his mind where he had seen Kyle's sword was during the team's battle with Celsius. What had really happened, unbeknownst to both Reid and Kyle, was that Kyle had dropped his weapon after using Soaring Divine Edge on Barbatos when his Spirit Blaster had worn off and fatigue had worn in. After the battle, nobody had bothered to pick the sword back up because, after the light from Reala's pendant had faded away, it was too dark for anybody to go looking for it, and also because nobody was honestly expecting Kyle to rise from the grave and have any use for it again. This, however, was not the case, and now Kyle's sword was far away.

"Sorry, Kyle…" Reid said, shrugging. "You can use my sword if you'd like…"

"No, that's okay… You're stronger than I am, so you would put better use into that sword than I would…"

"Hmm… Well, don't you still have the ability to cast magic? You still have the Lens attached to your belt, right?" Kyle gasped, and then put a hand on his belt where his Lens should be and, sure enough, he felt the smooth semispherical object right where it was supposed to be.

"That's right…" He whispered. "I can still use my magic…" He smiled, but before he could do anything else, the injured bird creature rammed into Reid, nearly knocking him over the side of the Van Eltia. Recovering quickly, Reid began to duel with the bird, seeming to lose ground with each passing second.

"Kyle! Do something!" Reid yelled while deflecting furious charges. "I can't take this thing on all by myself!" The young mage nodded, and then started charging up a spell. Quickly, Kyle launched a Stone Zapper spell at the bird, pummeling its side with 3 magic pebbles. However, all the spell did was invoke the wrath of the giant seagull, which instantly refocused its fury towards Kyle. The bird thundered across the deck of the Van Eltia towards the much smaller Kyle, eyes full of rage. This slightly unnerved the unarmed Kyle, and he started walking backwards until his back touched a wall. Seeing his prey cornered, the bird dashed towards Kyle in attempt to tackle him against the wall. Though not without screaming, Kyle jumped out of the way of the charge while the bird slammed into the wall. The Van Eltia, being as durable as it is, was unharmed by the ram attack, and, after shaking its head out, neither was the bird. Once again, it attempted to head butt Kyle multiple times. The blond teenager, being as agile as ever, avoided each attack, but, being without a weapon, was unable to counterattack.

"Hold on!" Reid yelled, rushing toward the bird. "Double Demon Fang!" Reid slashed downward twice, sending two glowing projectiles toward the large claws of the bird. When they hit their marks, the bird, which was already bent over trying to peck at Kyle, fell onto its stomach, nearly flattening Kyle in the process. Kyle took a deep breath of relief and used this small opportunity to try and cast another spell on the bird. However, the bird quickly attempted to rise to its feet again. In doing so, one of its wings came down hard near Kyle and the resulting wind force sent him flying into a wall, causing Kyle to instantly lose his breath and nearly lose consciousness. He just lay in a heap afterward.

Despite the bird flailing around, Reid managed to jump onto the bird's back and start making his way toward the bird's head. Standing at the base of the bird's neck, Reid hesitated a little. But, when he saw the bird's beak trying to reach out and grab the helpless Kyle, he instantly decided to put the bird out of its misery and plunged his blade into the neck of the bird in one swift motion. The enemy screeched again, this time in severe pain instead of anger, but it was quickly muffled by blood filling up its throat. Within seconds, it was over. Assured that he had killed it, Reid jumped off of the bird and walked over toward Kyle, who was still breathless but ready to cry again.

"I lost everything…" The depressed blond barely uttered. "I lost my home, my family, my love interest…" Taking a deep, rather sobby breath, he continued. "I also lost my sword, my usefulness, and my ability to fight… I am what I said I wouldn't be… A burden to you, Reid…" Reid shook his head.

"That's not true." Reid squatted and then put a hand on Kyle's shoulder. "I wouldn't have been able to defeat the bird on my own. Your spell saved me. You were a big help back there. Besides, there's one thing you haven't lost and never will…" Kyle's sullen face now had a dash of confusion mixed in. Reid smiled before continuing. "You haven't lost friendship yet. And I promise you that you won't be losing mine anytime soon." Reid winked. A small smile betrayed Kyle's thoughts about this statement. He knew that it was true.

Just then, a metallic creaking sound echoed from nearby as Keele stepped onto the deck. Reid and Kyle both turned their heads toward the blue haired scholar. With a very delayed reaction, Keele yelped and jumped backward upon seeing the carcass of the dead bird. "W-what in the name of S-Seyfert is this?!?" He stuttered, clearly dismayed with the sight. Reid stood up and walked over next to Keele and wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulder, a gesture that was quickly rejected by the latter with a swift brush to the shoulder which was intended to remove the arm from his body. Reid ignored Keele's dissatisfaction and replaced his arm.

"This thing…" Reid began saying. "…just landed on the deck and started to attack…" Reid was cut off.

"Why would a bird just randomly decide to land on a moving ship and attack humans?" The tone of Keele's voice portrayed that such behavior was not normally exhibited by birds.

"Its wing was hurt." Kyle said, still sitting next to the wall. "I think it must have been broken." Once again, Keele brushed away Reid's hand from his shoulder and walked over to the bird gingerly, as if it were merely sleeping.

"Oh, come on!" Reid said, rolling his eyes. "It's dead, Keele! I made sure it was!" Keele shot Reid an unnecessary dirty look before returning to what he was doing.

"It was the left wing that was broken prior to the two of you mangling this poor bird to oblivion, correct?" He inquired. Reid raised an eyebrow upon hearing this question. He had paid no attention to which wing was broken. He was too busy dodging attacks and saving Kyle to have noticed. Reid turned his head toward Kyle and non-verbally repeated Keele's question, hoping that the younger swordsman had been more perceptive to this detail. A confused shrug confirmed the answer to Reid's inquiry to be an 'I don't know'. Reid turned to face Keele.

"Sorry…" He shrugged. "Neither of us were paying attention to that…" Keele made a facial gesture that was a cross between rolling his eyes and glaring indignantly.

"Honestly, you two are useless idiots…" He muttered loudly enough so that the subjects of his insult could hear him. He pulled out his trusty Magic Lens to examine the bird, and not long after, in a more audible tone, he added, "Actually, this wing's injury couldn't have been done by a sword. The bones in this wing are shattered. A sword is incapable of shattering bones like this; it can only slice them…" Keele's voice dropped to a whisper for a few seconds, during which Reid looked at Kyle again, apparently quite comfortable with his seat next to the wall, since it didn't seem like he was ready to move anytime soon. When the swordsmen locked eyes, perhaps a mental message was shared between them, because Kyle's next words contained the very same question Reid had wanted to ask Keele:

"What then could have shattered the bird's wing if not a sword?"

Keele turned around, but, unlike either swordsman was expecting, the blue haired scholar's face was not illuminated with irritation, but with surprise.

"This could only have been done by a projectile of some sort… But what?" For the first time that either of them could remember, Keele was at a complete loss. He stood in the same spot for a few seconds, looking more flabbergasted with each passing second.

"Perhaps Meredy knows." Reid suggested. "She's more familiar with Celestian technology than you are, so why not ask her?" A small smile on Keele's face was quickly snuffed out so that he wouldn't give Reid the satisfaction of having to admit that the ginger's suggestion was, for once, not stupid. Without saying another word, Keele walked through the deck's door awkwardly and headed for the lower floors. Once again, Reid and Kyle exchanged glances for a minute before bursting out in simultaneous laughter. Reid stopped laughing quickly when he heard Kyle laughing. _Wow… _He thought. _Despite everything that's happened to him, Kyle can still find something to laugh about… It takes real courage for somebody in his shoes to have the strength to laugh…_ Just then, Kyle stopped laughing.

"Hey, Reid…" He said. "Are you all right?" His head was tilted slightly to one side as he said this. Reid shook his head out and jolted out of his reverie upon hearing Kyle speak.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, trying to hide the fact that he had just zoned out. Kyle took a breath as if he was about to start a long lecture to Reid, but his next words were never uttered, since he was interrupted by a small buzzing sound from nearby.

"Kyle Dunamis!" Chat's voice called out following the noise. "Report to the steering room at once!" After that, the loudspeaker clicked off. The boy who had just been summoned by Chat stared at the speaker.

"How does Chat know about me being back?" He said. "I never told her because I didn't want to bother with her sailing…"

"Perhaps Farah or Meredy told her?" Reid suggested. Kyle nodded his head slightly before finally moving from his spot along the wall. The blond teenager quickly disappeared behind the metal door, leaving Reid alone, save for the dead bird. Reid took one more look at the bird. He wanted to cast the blood-soaked thing over the side of the Van Eltia, but he knew that Keele was probably going to come back to look at the bird again with Meredy and Keele would probably freak out at Reid if he had dumped the bird overboard, let alone if he "mangled it" anymore, as Keele had put it. Shrugging, Reid abandoned the bird and went to see if he could catch up to Kyle.

* * *

Upon arriving at the steering room, Reid and Kyle found Chat talking with Farah. It was the latter who had spotted the two boys first and started waving to them.

"Kyle! There you are!" Chat said, turning around to face him. "And Reid as well, I see. Kyle, come here for a second." The blond did as he was told, walking up next to the captain. Before he could react, he was whacked in the head with a Pow Hammer and fell to the ground.

"Ow!" He protested while sitting up. "What was that for?!?"

"That was for not telling me that you're back sooner." Chat said, turning back to the steering wheel. "Now that I see you're okay, you may return to your duties as a deckhand of the Van Eltia." Slightly irritated, Kyle rose to his feet.

"And what if I refuse?" He asked. Chat turned around again to look up at the taller boy, hands on her hips.

"If you refuse…" She began. "I'll maroon you. How does that sound?" A look of surprise overtook Kyle's face, which Chat mistook for confusion. "Oh, that's right… You're one of the two deckhands who are thick in the head… Let me put it simply: I'll strand you on the next tiny island I see and sail away, leaving you to perish. Kapeesh?"

"I know what marooning is!" Kyle said, now quite angry. "Geez, why does everybody take me for a completely mindless idiot?!?"

"Because you act like one sometimes?" Farah said. Kyle shot an angry glare at the green haired martial artist before looking back at Chat.

"That being said…" He continued. "I don't plan on dying again so soon, so I'll rejoin the Van Eltia's crew." For the third time, Chat turned around to face Kyle. Upon seeing her front side again, Kyle put his right arm up in a salute to the captain. "Kyle Dunamis reporting back for duty, Captain!" He said somewhat playfully. Chat smiled.

"At ease, Kyle…" She said. "We're pirates, not army soldiers. No need to be so formal. Regardless, welcome back."

"So, where are we headed, exactly?" Reid asked, slightly amused from the spectacle that had just occurred.

"We're en route to Tinnsia." Chat said. "Isn't that where Guston said Shileska is based?"

"That's right…" Farah said. "Then Tinnsia it is." All four of them looked out of the steering window into the gray ocean of Celestia.

"So, the journey is going to continue, then?" Reid said; he was ready to continue the journey that had been interrupted by the events that had caused Kyle's death and rebirth.

"Yup." Chat said. "Onward to adventure!" She thrust a finger forward in an epic pose while the others behind her also made poses in anticipation for the journey ahead.

* * *

**Author's Nota Bene: **Okay, I apologize for the somewhat cheesy ending. That was part was written _ad libitum_ *shot for once again referencing the Radiant Mythology games* and was slightly forced. Anyways, anybody who has any plot-reading ability at all is probably going to predict where I'm headed with the whole "Kyle doesn't have a weapon anymore" thing I started. I'm an easy read… XD So, the next part is going to be something brand new: I'm going to write a part about the characters still stuck on Kyle's homeworld, beginning the Destiny 2 Arc of the story. Stay tuned for that! Once again, thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 18: Aurora in the Daylight

**Two Destinies Chapter 18: Aurora in the Daylight**

**Author's Preface:** So, here it is: an experimental chapter of sorts, seeing as I'm writing about a game I've never played (hence the lack of Artes: I have no idea what any of Loni's non-spell and non-Mystic Artes even look like… DX), which is why I called upon the help of a few friends who HAVE played ToD2. They're the ones who fixed up loose ends for this. Thanks, you guys! ;) Enjoy!

* * *

The only thing Reala was thinking about – the only thing she could think about right now – was Kyle. Her thoughts revolved around how, despite the stacked odds, he had battled Barbatos by himself and lost, all for her. He had done everything to try and save her, but he had missed grabbing her hand by a second at most. Just before she had completely vanished from Celestia, she had seen Kyle's face sadden up almost instantly when his hand had missed hers.

She was back in the world she called home now. At any other time, Reala would have been happy to be back here in this world after spending so much time in Celestia, but since Kyle was still there, she would rather have stayed with him and that she was in Celestia instead.

Reala had no idea as to where she even was right now. Upon looking around, all she could see was lonely grey walls that betrayed no evidence as to what the room's original intent even was. However, it currently served as a prison of sorts, the door having been locked from the outside. But it wasn't as if Reala had tried to leave the room anyways. She just sat there in the limited light that shone from the setting sun through a miniscule window, staring at her pale hands, silently wishing that they were holding Kyle's dark-gloved hands right now.

Just then, there was a small noise of the locked door being undone and creaking open soon afterwards. A woman clothed in ivory robes gracefully entered the room. Reala did her best to avoid the eyes of the new inhabitant of the room.

"So, we meet again…" The white woman said calmly in a rather soothing voice that had the opposite affect on Reala, turning her already deathly pale skin even more colorless. Not expecting a reply, the woman continued, her voice now serious. "You're still thinking about that boy Kyle, aren't you?" Reala flinched when she had heard that sentence.

"Don't say his name, Elraine…" Reala said quietly. Something about how Elraine said Kyle's name in this instance was a bit unsettling to her. Unfazed by the rather bold request considering the circumstances, Elraine continued, letting a tiny evil smile creep onto her face.

"You want to be with him again, do you not?" She said, the voice's feigned sweetness dripping like poison-drenched honey. "I'll let you be with Kyle… All you have to do is close your eyes, and I'll take care of the rest…" Reala knew that the offer was too good to be true, and it was really an ill-intentioned ruse. For the first time since she had entered the room, Elraine finally caught a glimpse of Reala's dark brown eyes, glowing with a fierceness her fragile body could not hope to portray.

"Why did you bring me back?" Reala asked, finally standing up. She was shaking - more from cold than from fear, however. "Why didn't you tell Barbatos to kill me, too?!?" Elraine frowned again.

"Who said that I had requested such a thing?" The white priestess said, all of the sweetness from earlier having disappeared.

"Don't give me that!" Reala yelled. "I know you told him to do it!" Elraine was slightly fazed by the accusation, but gave no outward indication of such. She chuckled a little before continuing.

"You're powerless against me…" Elraine said. "I have no reason to kill you; your power stands no match against mine, and therefore you are not a threat to me… Like Barbatos was able to exploit, you had the power to bring you and your little hero Kyle back to this world the entire time, but you had not done so… But that might have changed if I had waited any longer… Let's see how you fare without your hero to protect you!" Before Reala could react, Elraine had stepped forward and grabbed the pale girl's arm, causing Reala to squeak a little, half from pain, half from surprise.

"Let go of me!" Reala screamed. The icy cold grasp, however, only tightened around her arm. "Please! You're hurting me! Aah!"

"You're under MY control here…" Reala struggled against the firm grasp around her arm, but to no avail. Elraine's other hand came up to near her face and magic began to focus around it, illuminating it with a soft purple glow. "Now, I implore that you take my suggestion to close your eyes and _sleep_." The last word of the sentence activated the spell that Elraine had been preparing, and it instantly started to affect Reala, who struggled despite everything.

"NO!" Reala cried out in desperation as she felt her entire body slowly succumbing to the magic. _Kyle…_ She thought, tears forming in her eyes. _I'm sorry…_ A single tiny tear fell from one of her eyes and landed on the Lens pendant that she wore around her neck. As if the tear had activated some kind of magic, the Lens began to glow four different colors: red, green, blue and yellow. Surprised, Elraine looked at the magic pendant for a second, wondering how the Lens was able to glow in such an array of colors despite Reala only being able to use holy magic.

Just then, the multicolored magic shot out from the Lens forcefully and projected skyward. A small scream escaped Reala's lips while this happened, and Elraine was sent backwards, even nearly knocked over, by the force of the escaping energy. The magic phased through the ceiling of the room, not stopping its ascent for anything. Within seconds, it was over: Elraine recovered from the force of the magic, and Reala had fallen to the ground, lying motionlessly and uncried tears lingering in her eyes. Elraine stood over Reala, victorious.

"Barbatos!" She called out. "Come and take care of her…" It wasn't long before a tall, dark skinned man had entered the room. When he saw Reala on the ground, he instantly knew what to do, walking over to her and lifting the small girl into his arms. Elraine's mind was still focused on what had just happened, though.

_What kind of magic did that foolish girl use?_ She thought. _I've never felt any kind of power like that before…_ As the dark man disappeared in another direction with the limp Reala, Elraine wandered over to a window, still rather mystified by Reala's last-minute magic spell. The sky outdoors was brushed with twilight, but it seemed brighter than usual. The ground looked entirely illuminated by something from above. However, considering what time of day it was, Elraine knew that it couldn't possibly be the sun. So, to figure out what it was, Elraine turned her head skyward and saw a magnificent sight. Glowing above her was a bright aurora, dancing about in the same hues that had jetted out of Reala's Lens in her last-ditch efforts.

Upon closer inspection, Elraine noticed the four different colors moving in peculiar patterns. All of such patterns seemed to be inspired by nature – earth, water, wind, and fire. The resulting rainbow of radiated brightly in the fading sunlight.

The aurora shined so brightly that people many miles away were able to witness the enchanting beauty as it illuminated the sky in its unique way. So many people had never seen an aurora before, most likely because they lived too far from the world's poles to actually be in range to see one, and those who had seen one had never seen such a bright aurora, either. Many people began to believe that the magical aurora was some kind of miracle. And a miracle was something that Loni Dunamis desperately needed. After his best friend Kyle had gone missing, he and his companions, Nanaly Fletch, an archer with hot pink hair, and Judas, a dark haired swordsman who always wore a dragon mask over his face, had resorted to wandering the world, occasionally doing quests for people. At this time, however, they were en route to a new town, wandering through what seemed to be an endless plain. The three of them were quite a fair distance away from the aurora was shining, but they could still see some of the glow from where they were. And so it happened where Loni caught a sight of the aurora out of the corner of his eye while he and his friends were walking along. He almost instantaneously stopped walking to get another glance at the aurora, originally thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. When he saw that they weren't, he only continued to stare.

"Hey guys…" He said, trying to catch the attentions of his friends who had started to walk away without him. His eyes remained fixated on the aurora as he spoke. "Check this out…" Nanaly turned to face Loni, but, despite having stopped, did nothing to show that he was paying attention.

"What is it?" Nanaly asked, turning to look at Loni, and then, upon seeing him focused elsewhere, turned toward the direction he faced. She too saw the aurora's glow soon after turning around. "Is that aurora what you're talking about, Loni?" The silver haired man nodded.

"Yeah…" He said, his voice sounding slightly mesmerized. "I've never seen one before."

"Neither have I…" Nanaly responded, also staring for a second before looking at Judas, both of them having nearly forgotten that he was there because he was being so quiet, preparing to go to bed. "Hey Judas, have you ever seen an aurora before?" The masked swordsman continued to make his temporary bed for the night and didn't bother to look at Nanaly. However, he did have the decency to at least respond to her.

"I'm trying to get ready for bed…" He said quietly. "I suggest that you two do the same. We have another day of traveling to do tomorrow."

"But Judas!" Loni said, still not looking at Judas. "Something like this is not very common at all… It's a miracle of sorts! I mean, aren't we too far south from the North Pole to see one of these?" However, there was no response. Loni turned his head and saw that the man in question, mask and everything, had slipped into a sleeping bag silently and was probably already getting ready to sleep. Nanaly shrugged.

"I think Judas has a point here." She said. "Let's get some shuteye." She too pulled out a sleeping bag and got ready for bed. After shrugging silently, Loni too got ready to go to sleep. However, unlike the others, he did not fall asleep right away. Instead, he continued to look up at the sky and watched as the bright aurora in the distance cast away its shimmering, multicolored arms across the night sky. As he watched the dancing lights, Loni began to wonder if it was possible to make a wish on a magic aurora. _I guess it's worth a shot…_ He thought. _If it works, great. If it doesn't, oh well then; I tried…_ Loni closed his eyes to focus on the wish he was going to make and inadvertently fell into a deep slumber as he dreamed about being with Kyle once again. That was his one true wish: to be with his best friend once more.

* * *

In the morning, Loni slowly awoke under the light of early dawn. Still half asleep, he looked around at the campsite where they had slept last night. Nanaly was still asleep, but Judas' sleeping bag was open; he had already gone somewhere while the other two were sleeping. The dreary morning was rather quiet and calming, actually. Yawning, Loni stood up to stretch out his tired muscles and gazed upon a surprising sight as he twisted his body around to get a little exercise. The aurora that had been shining the night prior was still shining in the distance as brightly as it had last night, still fully visible despite the morning sun even farther in the distance tried to bleach it out. Loni gawked silently at it for a second before snapping out of his reverie. The first thing that he thought of doing was to tell Nanaly. Of course, Nanaly would probably nag at him for bothering her so early on in the day, but he wasn't thinking of the consequences of his actions as he walked over to where the sleeping woman laid in order to wake her.

"Hey!" He yelled. "Wake up, Nanaly!" The hot pink haired archer groaned awake.

"This had better be important, Loni…" She grumbled. "Otherwise, you'll be feeling my Bone Crusher again…"

"There's something I want you to see!" The enthusiastic silver haired man said. "Check it out!" Helping the half-asleep Nanaly to her feet, Loni turned her around to face the aurora. After a couple seconds, the archer glared tiredly at Loni.

"Is that it?" She grumbled. "It's just a…" At that moment, Nanaly snapped fully awake. "It's an aurora! Just like last night! Even though it's light out!"

"I know!" Loni said, matching Nanaly's excitement. "It's gotta be magical – there's no doubt in my mind!" _And maybe if it's magical, my wish might come true… _He thought. _I just have to keep believing…_

"The aurora sure is bright… How bright it will be in the middle of the day?" Nanaly's words fell upon deaf ears as Loni was lost in thought.

"What could that aurora be shining over?" He thought aloud. "It seems to be drawing me towards it…" Nanaly crossed her arms and faced towards Loni.

"Snap out of it, Loni! You're hallucinating!" Just then, she saw something moving in the distance behind Loni. It seemed to be rapidly approaching. "Uh, oh…" When it got a little closer, Nanaly could see that it was an Elephossus charging towards them. That surely wasn't going to stop just because the two of them were in its way. On the contrary, it would probably turn around and start attacking them, knowing the creature.

"Watch out!" Nanaly yelled as she pulled Loni off his feet and out of the way of the Elephossus. Loni yelled in surprise as he was brought to the ground. Having no idea as to what just happened, he quickly rose to his feet again.

"What the hell was that for, Nanaly?!?" He yelled. "Warn me before you…" His rant was interrupted as he caught sight of the Elephossus turning around for another attack. Instantly he whipped out his poleaxe to parry the oncoming charge. The monster and Loni clashed for a couple seconds before the Elephossus backed up a little to prepare for another charge. Loni used this opportunity to strike with an Arte. "Lightning Strike!"(1) He yelled as he thrust his axe into the air, causing a bolt of lighting to hit the enemy. "Beast Blast!"(2) Loni quickly followed up his first Arte with another, punching the Elephossus and then sending it backward with a small burst of energy. The enemy was knocked backward into the air, but quickly recovered to start attacking again.

"Let me help!" Nanaly yelled, pointing her bow at the enemy. "Storm Glare!"(3) She fired three glowing green arrows into the side of the enemy, but because it was moving so much, she missed hitting it in the vital spots. So, instead the Elephossus just squealed in pain for a second, snorted at Loni, and then turned to charge at Nanaly instead, seemingly unaware of the three arrows planted in its hide that were drawing blood. When the enemy had turned around to attack Nanaly, Loni took the opportunity to gouge another wound into the other side of the Elephossus, but, aside from a small grunt of pain, it made no reaction to the new wound and continued to charge at Nanaly.

"Geez!" Loni yelled. "This thing's a freaking tank! It won't die!" Now that there was some distance between him and the Elephossus, Loni decided to try a new strategy. While Nanaly jumped around tusk attacks, Loni started to cast a spell. A second later, he unleashed the magic attack at the enemy. "Aqua Spiral!" He yelled as a spinning jet of water magically appeared from his hands and shot off forcefully at the enemy. The already weakened Elephossus squealed upon being soaked by the magic, but shook itself dry soon afterward. During this small moment of the enemy being distracted, Nanaly had taken an opportunity to cast some magic of her own.

"Burn Strike!" She yelled. A second later, three burning comets fell from the sky and engulfed the squealing Elephossus in flames. _If it's not dead after this,_ Nanaly thought,_ this thing really is a 'freaking tank' as Loni so appropriately put it…_ She was slightly amused by the euphemism her friend had used and smiled a little, but quickly refocused on the battle.

On the other hand, Nanaly's spell had caused Loni to lose his battle focus. Kyle was capable of using the very same spell, and Loni could have sworn that he just heard his best friend's voice calling out the spell name instead of Nanaly's. His thoughts instantly turned to the blond teenager, and he stood there completely defenseless and lost in his thoughts.

However, the Elephossus had STILL not perished, even after being pretty much roasted alive. ("Loni was right…" Nanaly said. "That thing really IS a tank!") After shaking off the pain, it once again broke into a charge, heading straight for Loni, who made no effort to get out of the way.

"Watch out!" Nanaly yelled, trying to hit the quickly moving target with her arrows, which still seemed to have no effect on distracting the boar enemy. Nanaly's warning fell upon deaf ears. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst…

"Moon Glare! Moon Fall!" A new voice called out. Loni snapped out of his thoughts when he heard this and watched as a dark colored blur slammed into the side of the Elephossus with dark and light colored crescent moon shaped slashes, knocking it over onto its side. After being knocked over, the enemy squealed loudly once more before it finally stopped moving. Loni was now staring at the ivory dragon skull that hid the face of a black haired swordsman.

"Judas!" Loni said. "Where were you?" Judas turned away from the silver haired poleaxe wielder.

"I was training…" He said, his cape and the two blue feathers on his mask blowing lightly in a small breeze that had picked up. "But I heard you and Nanaly yelling, so I came to see what you two were doing… You were lucky that I was here to save you. You were being too careless…" Part of Loni wanted to thank Judas for saving him, but he knew that the masked swordsman wouldn't accept it because it was all Loni's fault in the first place. That and Loni had too much pride to be thankful to a shrimp like Judas.

"Kyle…" Loni couldn't help but whisper as he once again started to think about his friend. Nanaly heard this comment and walked over to where he was standing to give him a slap across the face.

"Is that what this is about?!?" Nanaly said, getting increasingly angry. "You almost got killed thinking about Kyle? You have to learn to let go of the past!" While Judas heard Nanaly say this, the image of a man with long blond hair begging and pleading with Judas to come with him while the sound of rushing water echoed in the background flashed through his mind, but he quickly forced the image away. Judas winced a little as if Nanaly had been scolding him and not Loni. However, he didn't show any signs of the memory nor Nanaly's harsh words affecting him as his focus returned to Nanaly's chastisement. "Kyle is gone." She continued. "You have to deal with it."

"Well, I'm going to keep believing that he's gonna come back one of these days…" Loni said, turning away from Nanaly in his slowly brewing irritation. It just so happened that he had turned to face the aurora, still shining brightly in the distance. A small smile flickered onto Loni's face. "In the meanwhile, let's find out more about that aurora. I wanna know how it could be shining in the daytime." Judas scoffed.

"Again with the aurora?" He said, looking past Loni to see what he was talking about. Sure enough, Judas too finally saw the aurora in its full morning glory. After a couple seconds, the masked swordsman closed his eyes. "Very well…" He said quietly. Loni, surprised by Judas' response, turned back around to look at him. "At least it will give us somewhere to go instead of aimlessly wandering from town to town…" Judas walked past Loni in the direction of the aurora, but stopped after a few paces. "Well, do you or do you not want to go investigate that aurora?" Loni smiled, and then walked up to where Judas was, Nanaly also joining them. The three adventurers then began their new quest, the magical aurora guiding them like a beacon in the distance.

* * *

**Author's Nota Bene:** Well, it looks like the adventure from the Destiny 2 side is well underway. I don't know how many Eternia chapters I might sneak in between this and the next Destiny 2 chapter. So, you know what the next chapter means, right? YEAH! *shot* So, just hold onto your horses for another two weeks for the next chapter of the story! (At least I'm making some progress, rather than just waiting it out until January/February~~~ ;) ) Thanks once again for reading! :D

* * *

Footnotes:

(1): Fanslation of Rajinshou

(2): Fanslation of Senkoubapa

(3): I forget if this Arte was in Radiant Mythology 1 as one of the Hunter class' Artes, so I'll just use the name from my fanslation list… It's Garensen, if that helps at all…


	4. Chapter 19: Tinnsia and Shileska

**Two Destinies Chapter 19: Tinnsia and Shileska**

**Author's Preface: **Yeah, so anyways, it's vacation right now where I live, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go on an update vacation. The fact that you're reading this right now is proof. Actually, pretty much the opposite is going to occur. I got a brand new mini-laptop/notebook for Chanukah, and it has Word and Internet on it, so I can update ANYWHERE now. :D So, enjoy this chapter and know that many more are still to come! (Heck, I don't even have any idea as to a general number of chapters this story is going to have… My best guess is mid-to-late thirties right now, but who knows?)

* * *

The Van Eltia sailed on quietly through the early morning light. Only one person was awake and was navigating the ship. Chat tiredly hung over the steering wheel of her prized ship. Her large black hat with all its blue feathers was beginning to droop over her face, but she made no effort to fix it. Honestly, part of her was hoping it would fall onto her eyes; its blackness would be a welcome sight by her eyes. But the better part of her knew to keep sailing on. Chat was the youngest member of her pirate crew, being three years younger than the next youngest member, but she always felt like she did the most work out of everybody on board. Forcing these somewhat selfish thoughts out of her head, Chat sailed on.

* * *

Hours later, everybody was awake and eating breakfast. The team was enjoying French toast, courtesy of Farah. It was quiet for the most part, probably because half of the team (namely Reid and Kyle) were still half asleep. Keele especially was quieter than usual. Normally, he would be making constant comments about the poor etiquette the other male party members possessed while eating, but today, he said nothing. Meredy saw how quiet Keele was being and tried to get him to talk.

"Good morning, Keele!" She said cheerfully. The blue haired scholar looked at Meredy silently, and then proceeded to cut another piece of toast for himself.

Suddenly, the boat rocked violently, knocking everybody to the ground and flinging toast and syrup into the air.

"What the heck was that?!?" Reid said, recovering from the rocking first.

"The ship must have hit something…" Farah said, returning to her feet. Just then, lively laughter broke through the silent air.

"Keele, you're covered in syrup!" Kyle noted between burst of laughter. "You're supposed to EAT the food, not wear it!" Keele glared indignantly at the laughing blonde while trying to hide his rapidly reddening face. It was taking everything he had to prevent himself from injuring Kyle. Instead, he stood up and left the kitchen in order to find some different clothes to wear. As soon as Keele left the room, Chat's voice came booming over the loudspeaker.

"Well, we've arrived in Tinnsia…" She said. Under her breath, though still noticeably, she added "…though not without having the front of the Van Eltia torn off…" She also less clearly added something about nodding off and her hat.

"We should go explore Tinnsia!" Meredy said with excitement. "Meredy likes exploring new places!"

"So, you've never been to Tinnsia, Meredy?" Farah asked. Meredy nodded.

"Meredy has been all over the continent where Imen is, but Meredy has never been to the continent where Tinnsia is!"

"Then let's go check it out!" Kyle said, making a beckoning hand motion.

"Now hold on." Farah said. "We can't leave until everybody's ready. Let's wait for Keele." The impatient blonde rolled his eyes. He disliked Keele, and he REALLY disliked waiting for him.

A few minutes later, most of the team had gathered by the exit. Keele had rejoined the group wearing another set of Mintche University robes, but these robes were not covered in syrup. Because of this, the other boys on the team started their typical ridicule.

"Keele, you're ridiculous…" Reid chortled. "There isn't another guy I know who tries to hide his body under mounds of clothes."

"Come on, Keele!" Kyle said playfully. "It's okay to show some skin once in a while…"

"No!" Keele burst out. "Showing off as much skin as you two mooks do is barbaric! Both of you need longer shirts that cover up your chests." Reid and Kyle looked at one another. They did not think showing off their stomachs was barbaric at all. They wanted to shoot back a simultaneous harsh reply, but the sound of a metal door creaking open disrupted them.

"All right." Chat said, stepping into sight. "I'm here." The way her hat made a shadow on her face highlighted the dark circles under her eyes. Farah wanted to say something, but didn't as she watched Chat walk over to the door and hit a button. The exit groaned open. What everybody saw next was something amazing.

Tinnsia was a city of technology. The buildings were metallic and multi-tiered. There were escalators and moving platforms and the like all over the city. All the people bustled about busily. Keele was especially excited by the city, but everybody was easily impressed.

"Hweel!" Meredy chirped. "Let's go shopping!"

"Don't forget, guys…" Keele said, closing his eyes to enter lecture mode. "The reason we're here in the first place is to find Shiles…" Keele opened his eyes and saw that nobody had stuck around to listen to his drabble. "Aw, come on, guys!" He yelled in frustration.

The team had split up to check out the city on each person's own. Farah and Meredy went hopping from store to store looking for things to buy. Keele popped into a bookstore and sat down with a book in Melnics, trying to decipher it. Chat luckily found a ship repair shop and asked the people there if they could help repair the Van Eltia. Reid found a sushi bar and went inside, somehow finding himself in a food-eating contest with a buff man who wore no shirt, blue pants, and a large lion-shaped wrestling belt. Reid had easily won the contest (and afterwards commented with "I AM THE CHAMPION!"). Kyle, however, was still looking for some store to pop into while this was going on.

Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Kyle spotted a weapon shop. _Great!_ He thought._ I can buy a new sword there!_ He quickly entered the store and started to look around excitedly.

However, he had been expecting to find the store filled with all kinds of swords, shields, and the like, but it was fairly empty. Kyle looked around the desolate store for a couple seconds, after which he heard a voice. "May I help you?" It said. Kyle walked up to the owner of the voice, who was apparently the storekeeper.

"Um, yeah…" He said. "I'm looking for a sword. Something kinda small, useable by a person like…" Kyle was cut off by the shopkeeper's chortling.

"No wonder they call you guys Inferian… Asking for such inferior products… Inferior Inferians…" Kyle was ready to explode into anger. Not only was his irritation for being called Inferian was being provoked, but he was becoming VERY angry because his weapon of choice was being called 'inferior'.

"Then what the hell do you sell here if you don't sell swords?!?" He yelled, banging his fist on the counter. Without saying another word (though his smug grin seemed to be saying something), the shopkeeper disappeared into a closet for a second, coming back out with a cylindrical metal object that made Kyle raise an eyebrow in confusion. "What's that?" He wondered aloud.

"A gun…" The shopkeeper said, the smug look on his face becoming even wider. "See for yourself why a sword is inferior to this!" Just then, the shopkeeper aimed the gun at a distant target mounted on a wall. A loud noise then thundered through the shop, badly startling Kyle. When he recovered, Kyle saw a hole in the middle of the target, despite the shopkeeper not having moved. "You see…" The shopkeeper continued. "A gun is a ranged weapon. With this gun, you would be able to shoot a sword-wielding opponent from afar before they even get close to you." Then came the shameless plug. "So, have I changed your mind? Are you now interested?" Kyle sighed.

"No thanks…" He said. Honestly, he had instantly come to dislike guns. There was something invigorating about dancing around the battlefield and slicing through the air with a singing blade that using a gun lacked to him. That coupled with the fact that this weapon made swords 'inferior' in this shopkeeper's eyes caused an instant dissatisfaction of guns in Kyle. Slightly depressed by the fact that he STILL couldn't get another sword (and from the realization that all Celestian weapon shops probably sold guns instead of swords), Kyle left the store quietly.

"Kyle! There you are!" Farah's voice rang from nearby. Kyle looked up to see the green haired martial artist waving to him. The other party members were next to her. Instantly forgetting his disappointment, he ran over to the others.

"What's going on?" Kyle asked.

"Meredy found Shileska's hideout!" The purple haired girl twirled around as she said this.

"Really?" Kyle said, cocking his head slightly. "Then where is it? How do you know it's Shileska's hideout?

"We saw a guy go up to the person in front and spin around, and the other guy let him in." Farah said. "It must be Shileska's secret code or something…" Keele grunted.

"How can you STILL be so sure, you guys?" He said. "What if we're way off?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Chat said, digging into her bag. "We have to show them this." She withdrew the Miacis Badge from her bag and showed it to her friends. Keele sighed, but didn't say anything.

"So, let's go check it out." Reid said. "Come on, Keele, don't lag behind like usual…"

"I do NOT lag behind!" The blue haired scholar huffed. He was about to nag, but he saw the others walking off. "Wait for me!" He cried out, dashing to catch up with his companions.

* * *

After about a minute of walking, Meredy stopped everybody. "Look!" She pointed at a small barge floating nearby with a person standing outside of it. "That is Shileska's hideout."

"…Sure doesn't look impressive…" Reid said, shrugging. "I was honestly expecting something much cooler…"

"Looks can be deceiving, Reid." Farah said. She then started looking around for an example. "Take Chat for instance. At first glance, she could pass for a boy…"

"Hey!" The pirate girl barked. "No boy in their right mind would wear big hoop earrings like mine!"

"Could've fooled me if they did…" Kyle said, giving a slight shrug. This comment was retaliated with a Pow Hammer to the head, courtesy of Chat.

"Let's just go see if they'll accept this badge…" Chat said, not trying to hide her slowly brewing irritation. She stormed off towards the barge in question, the others following at a small distance.

When the team got close to the barge, the person out in front put his hand up to stop them. "Are you with Shileska?" He asked. Everybody exchanged glances. Meredy was right: this was Shileska's hideout.

"Not yet, but we can be trusted." Farah said. She nodded towards Chat, who held out the Miacis Badge for the man to see.

"I-is that a Miacis Badge?" The man stuttered.

"Sure is." Reid said.

"That surely means that a member of Shileska has entrusted you guys with joining our resistance…" He said. After a second's hesitation, the man spun around quickly and placed a hand over his heart in some kind of strange salute, followed with a loud cry of "MIACIS TO OUR HEARTS!"

"Miacis… to Our Hearts?" Keele said. "What kind of mantra is that?"

"Obviously Shileska's manta, Keele…" Reid said, elbowing Keele in the arm. Keele withdrew his arm with a glare and started rubbing it.

"That's manTRA, not manta, Reid…" Keele muttered. Under his breath, he added, "That's almost as bad as 'caramels'…"

"It's CRAYmels, Keele!" Kyle said, having heard Keele wrong. "You keep correcting me, and now I have to correct you!" Keele smacked his face with the palm of his hand in disgust. There was a part of him that badly wanted to hit Kyle over the head with his staff, but another part of him knew that doing such a thing would only kill off more of the limited number of brain cells Kyle had in the first place. Instead, he just sighed loudly.

"Let's just go inside…" He said. "I can't stand to idle around out here with a bunch of idiots any longer…" Keele started to walk in, but Farah grabbed his ponytail after he had only taken one step, stopping the irritated scholar in his tracks.

"We ARE allowed to go in, right?" Farah asked. The man spun around again, but this time did not salute nor say 'Miacis to Our Hearts'.

"Of course you are." He said. "That badge is a symbol of your trustworthiness. If another member of Shileska trusts you, then I can trust you, too."

"All right, then." Chat said. "Let's go inside." And the six of them entered the barge, not knowing what Shileska had in store for them.

* * *

Upon first entering the barge, the team found that it was very badly lit and that nobody was around. Everybody was thinking the same thing: did Shileska not have a lot of members? The first to speak up was Reid.

"Hello? Anybody here?" He said. "We've come to join Shileska!" There was no response.

"Maybe we need to go in farther…" Farah said, taking a couple steps forward. Just then, something fell from above in front of Farah, shocking her. In her surprise, she hit the guy in the face. Everybody else sweatdropped.

"Farah, that's not how you greet somebody whose group you want to join…" Keele noted. After he said this, tons more people came down from above, surrounding the team on all sides. They had guns and swords pointed at them.

"Baiba!" Meredy exclaimed. "Do they not want visitors?" None of the attackers said anything.

"I'll take that as a yes…" Reid said, pulling out his sword. Keele nearly fell on top of Reid trying to make the ginger put his weapon back.

"You idiot!" He exclaimed. "Let's not get rash here. Maybe we can ask them what they want first…" Just then, one of the guys fired a shot above the heroes' heads, surprising all of them.

"I think they want a battle…" Kyle said, preparing a spell. Reid and Farah ran at the surrounding attackers weapons ablazing. Chat started throwing Pow Hammers in every direction. Keele just sat there flabbergasted.

"Come on, guys! Listen to me for once!" He yelled. At that moment, Keele got slashed across the back by one of the mysterious men, which caused Keele to fall on his face. "Oww…" He groaned. "My back…" At that moment, the guy who attacked Keele got blasted by Kyle's Burn Strike spell. Meredy ran over to Keele and kneeled over him.

"Meredy will heal you!" She said. "First Aid!" Keele's back glowed blue as the healing magic worked on him. Keele stood up after being healed and brushed off his robes.

"You're gonna pay for that!" He yelled, firing off a flurry of Fire Balls and Aqua Edges at the enemies. The battle raged on for a few more minutes in a similar fashion, with Reid and Farah attacking from the front lines, Chat tossing hammers from behind, and Kyle, Keele, and Meredy casting spells from the back. Unbeknownst to all of them, they were being watched.

In the middle of the battle, a whistle went off. The unwary heroes had no idea what this was all about, until, all of a sudden, the enemies stopped attacking. They all spun around and yelled "MIACIS TO OUR HEARTS!" simultaneously. Just then, a woman with white hair and a purple outfit jumped down from the ceiling in the same fashion the others had. All the soldiers saluted her. The woman turned around to face the heroes and she too spun around and said "MIACIS TO OUR HEARTS!" She stared at the heroes as if she wanted them to do the salute as well. Everybody caught on pretty quickly. Awkwardly, everybody repeated the salute. (Except Meredy, who took the spinning a little too seriously.) The woman laughed at their attempt.

"Ha ha, that'll do…" She said. "So, are you here to join Shileska?"

"Yes!" Meredy said, skipping forward. "We came to join Shileska! We were told to come here by Guston!" A small smile lit up the woman's face.

"By Guston, you say?" She said, flipping some hair out of her face. "Well then, welcome to Shileska!" Everybody looked at each other happily and then back at the woman. "My name is Ayla. I'm one of Shileska's leaders. I humbly welcome you to the ranks of Shileska."

"Thanks!" Reid said, rubbing the back of his head.

"If I may, would you be so kind as to tell us why these guys attacked us?" Keele asked, getting a glare from Reid.

"Certainly." Ayla said, which caused Keele to give Reid a smug grin. "The reason we attacked you was to prove that you were capable to withstanding battle if need be."

"Of course we can." Kyle said, grinning widely. "We've been all over Celestia fighting Greater Caramels and everything, so of course we're able to take the heat of fighting." Keele coughed.

"Says the person who doesn't even have a weapon… And once again you messed up and said 'caramels'…" He muttered. Ayla raised an eyebrow.

"Greater Craymels?" She said. Under her breath, she added. "He's going to want to hear this…" In an audible voice, she continued. "So, would you like to meet the leader of Shileska? I'm sure he would like to meet you."

"Wait, I thought you said you were the leader of Shileska…" Farah noted. Ayla laughed.

"I said that I was A leader of Shileska." She said. "I didn't say I was Shileska's foremost leader, though. That honor belongs to another. Follow me if you would like to meet our leader." Ayla started to walk away. The soldiers parted to reveal a way for her. While walking, Ayla made a hand motion for the others to follow. They did so, keeping a small distance away from her, though.

* * *

On the way to the leader of Shileska's room, Ayla struck up conversation about the Greater Craymels and simultaneously gave the heroes a tour of Shileska's base. It wasn't long before they had arrived at their desired destination. Outside the door, Ayla spun around again. "Here we are." She said, opening the door. "You may enter." Everybody stepped inside. Sitting in the room was a tall dark skinned man with short yellowish hair, a large Elara, and brightly colored clothes. He stared at the people who entered the room and raised an eyebrow. Once they were all inside, Ayla performed the "Miacis to Our Hearts" ritual again. The Celestian man stood up.

"This is the leader of Shileska, Max." Ayla said. The man whom Ayla had just called Max laughed.

"YEAH!" He said in a deep voice after he stopped laughing.

"Max?" Reid said, staring at the Shileska leader. "For the leader of a group like Shileska, I was honestly expecting a cooler name than…" He was interrupted with a swift elbow from Keele into his stomach.

"I sincerely apologize for my friend's rudeness..." Keele said, bowing slightly. "Please don't base your opinion on us around him..."

"YEAH!" Max said again, apparently oblivious to what Reid had just said and still jubilant.

"So, you'll let us join Shileska?" Farah asked. Max nodded.

"YEAH!" He said once more, now standing in front of the heroes, hands on his hips.

"...Can you say anything other than 'YEAH!', Max?" Kyle said, crossing his arms. This comment was followed by the nastiest glare from Keele that anybody had ever seen the blue haired scholar make. Max, however, only laughed harder, not in the slightest offended.

"Of course I can, silly..." Max said, walking up to Kyle and giving him a small noogie. The blond teen shrank away in slight discomfort, and then rubbed his head. "So..." Max was serious now. "Why did you you kids decide to join Shileska?"

"We were asked to join by Guston." Meredy said. "That and Galenos asked us to look for more allies." Max laughed again.

"You kids sure know some big names around Celestia..." He said. "Even though most of you are Inferian, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we are." Farah said, looking at Kyle out of the corner of her eye. His mood had deteriorated slightly, obvious due to him looking at the ground now. Just then, there was a mewling sound from nearby. Everybody looked around to find the source of the sound, but Max just laughed.

"Ha ha! That's just Dede, my pet Miacis." He said while a yellow cat creature leaped up onto his arm and mewed again.

"That explains 'Miacis to Our Hearts', I guess..." Chat said. Ayla walked up next to her and whispered something in her ear. "...You can't be serious..." Chat said quietly, an ugly look sliding onto her face. Max just laughed it off. Trying to get everybody's minds off of what she had just told Chat, Ayla spoke up.

"Max, these young ones have been recruiting the Greater Craymels." Max raised an eyebrow at this.

"Really..." He said. "Then have you perhaps recruited the Greater Craymel of Lightning, Volt?" Keele shook his head, and then looked away from Max.

"Unfortunately, that's the only one that we haven't got..." He said. "And we don't even know where to look for it..." Max laughed once again.

"Well, you've come to the right place, then!" He said. "I know exactly where the temple of the Lightning Craymel is!"

"Really?!?" Meredy said excitedly. "That is great! Max can lead us to Volt!"

"YEAH!" Max said. "Shileska will finally have the power source for our Craymel Cannon!" Keele's eyes lit up.

"D-did you say... Craymel Cannon?!?" He said, getting interested.

"YEAH!" Max said. "We were planning to use it to break into Balir's castle. It's Shileska's most prized secret."

"Let me see it." Keele said. Reid looked at Keele with a stern look for a second before sighing.

"There he goes again. He's in the rude nerd mode again..." Keele glared at Reid for a second before looking at Max again. However, Ayla spoke up instead.

"I'll take you to look at it." She said. "By the way, I don't think I ever caught your names..."

"Oh!" Farah said. "How rude of us! I'm Farah Oersted, and there's also Reid Hershel, Keele Zeibel, Meredy, Kyle Dunamis, and Chat." Max looked at them for a couple seconds before speaking again.

"So Inferians have two names?" He said. "Interesting..."

"That's right..." Kyle said. "I don't think I've ever heard Meredy or Chat give a last name... Do you guys even have one?" Meredy shook her head.

"Celestians only have one name. Meredy's name is Meredy!" Reid laughed.

"We know, Meredy..." He said.

"Anyways..." Max said. "So, should we get this vessel moving to head to the Lightning Craymel's temple, then?" Chat coughed.

"Actually, we should use the Van Eltia." She said, puffing her chest out with pride. "It's the fastest ship in Celestia, and I'm its captain." Max laughed again, making Chat slightly angry. He wasn't laughing at her boasts, though.

"Very well." He said. "Let's take the Van Elfia..." He was cut off.

"That's Van ELTIA..." She said, annoyed. Kyle chuckled a little.

"She overreacts almost as much as Keele does to me saying 'Caramels'..." He said. Once again, Chat whacked him over the head with a Pow Hammer and he fell to the ground holding his head in pain.

"Let's go..." Chat said, ready to storm off.

"You guys go without me..." Keele said. "I'm going to stay here and look at the Craymel Cannon." Everybody looked at the blue haired scholar as he said this.

"Keele, you nerd!" Kyle jeered, though he was still on the ground. "It's so typical of a nerd like you to abandon your friends for your nerdy stuff!" Reid rested a hand on Kyle's head.

"Let it go, Kyle..." He said. "At least if Keele stays here, it'll be much quieter on our trip to the temple... Besides, Max will be going with us instead." Kyle shrugged.

"True..." He said. "He won't be nagging at us every other second... See you later, Keele!" Kyle shot to his feet and waved goodbye while ignoring Keele's glare. The team then left the room, heading for the Van Eltia in order to go to the Lightning Craymel's temple.

* * *

**Author's Nota Bene:** Well, this chapter ended up being pretty long... *shrugs* Next chapter, we'll finally see Max in action. BURNING FORCE! Actually, I was planning, upon a friend's suggestion, to give Max a few more Artes because he has so few. They aren't going to be anything like his canon attacks (heh, slight pun there...) with the huge charging attacks, but more like stuff to use in a hurry, such as smaller bursts, physical attacks, etc. I've also been planning the same with Chat. I hope nobody minds... And one of these days, Kyle is definitely going to need a weapon... But anybody with a decent memory should know what's probably going to happen sometime along the way... ;) Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this long ramble... Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 20: A Shocking Dungeon Adventure

**Two Destinies Chapter 20: A Shocking Dungeon Adventure**

**Author's Preface: **Sorry about the lack of updates lately, but I've been preoccupied with other stuff *coughmyroleplaycough*, so I haven't updated since last year… *shot* So… My birthday is coming up soon. *coughfridaycough* And now it looks like I have a cold *coughnoIdon'tcough*, so I'm gonna grab some cough drops and continue writing. *coughenjoythechaptercough*

*shot*

Anyways, I was also thinking about giving Volt's dungeon a bit of a revamp. It's gonna look pretty much the same, but it's going to work more like a computer. And the heroes are the viruses… XD

* * *

"Well!" Max announced proudly. "This is quite the ship! It's perfect for basing Shileska's resistance operations!" Max wrapped an arm around Chat and squeezed a little too hard, causing the pirate girl to grunt in surprise and slightly in pain. "You have one heck of a ship here!"

"Thanks…" Chat said weakly after Max let go of her. She rubbed her arm. "Just don't forget that I'm the captain, okay?"

"So, Max…" Farah said. "You said that you know where the Lightning Craymel's temple is…"

"YEAH!" Max laughed. "Let me see a map."

"I have one here." Reid said, pulling out a map from seemingly nowhere. "Will this do?" Max took the map from Reid and unfurled it. A second later, he flipped it over, unabashed by the embarrassing display.

"Here it is!" He said, laying the map down on a table with a finger placed on a spot on the map.

"Well, looks like I'll set a course for that location." Chat said while withdrawing something out of her bag. Within the next second, there was a Pow Hammer-shaped sticker placed atop the spot where Max's finger had been earlier.

"What's with you and Pow Hammers, Chat?" Kyle asked innocently, staring at the sticker. He was instantly met with a Pow Hammer to the head, which caused him to fall backwards onto the ground. Reid sweatdropped as he looked at Chat.

"Was that really necessary?" He asked.

"I do NOT have an obsession with Pow Hammers!" Chat barked.

"I didn't say you had an obsession!" Kyle groaned, still sprawled out on the floor. Farah helped him back to his feet, but he nearly fell down again when he took a step forward. "Meredy? When did your sister come aboard?" He asked in a somewhat dazed tone.

"Huh?" The purple haired Celestian asked, tilting her head slightly in confusion. "Meredy does not have a sister… What is Kyle talking about?"

"So, let's get this ship going!" Max said, randomly changing the subject. "I can't wait to see it sail!"

"Hey, I'm Captain around here, so I give the orders!" Chat barked. Everybody stared at her. "…That being said, let's set sail." She added. Max laughed.

"YEAH!" He said heartily.

* * *

The weather was nice, leading to a calm boat trip, so most of the team had dispersed after the ship got started up. Max had taken himself on a tour around the ship and was getting his bearings of the place when he stumbled upon the other two boys sitting in a room together.

"Hey!" He said, getting their attentions. "What are you guys up to in here?" Max invited himself into the room, while Kyle and Reid just stared at him.

"We're just talking." Reid said."It's nothing important, though…"

"Well then, if you guys aren't doing anything important, why don't we do some team bonding?" He wrapped his arms around both of them and gave them each a playful one-armed hug. "So… How about a game?" Reid and Kyle sweatdropped at the suggestion. "Would you like to play 3-Man WHIS? Or are there any popular games that you Inferians like to play?" Kyle looked away from Max as he said this.

"Max, I don't know if this has struck you yet or not…" Reid said, noting his blonde friend's discomfort. "…but Kyle isn't Inferian…He's from a world totally separate from Eternia." Max raised an eyebrow.

"Oh… I see… Interesting…" He said, his voice getting slightly deeper in pitch. "So, he's a slimy green alien creature that has taken the disguise of an Inferian and is spying for his extraterrestrial species to watch us and learn our weaknesses so that they can take over our world, isn't that right?" Kyle's face turned even redder than Reid's hair.

"I-I'm not an alien!" He yelled, rising to his feet. Max raised an eyebrow. "…Okay, maybe I am…" Kyle sat back down. "But I'm human like you guys! No disguise necessary!" Reid stared at Kyle as if the blonde had just admitted that Max's fantasy was true.

"So… In your eyes, there's no difference between Inferians and Celestians…" Reid asked. Kyle nodded.

"That's right." He said. "The only difference between Inferians and Celestians to me is where they were born – we're all human! Heck, my best friend might be considered Celestian because of his dark skin, but nobody has a problem with us being friends and even living together where I come from…" Just then, Kyle's racism rant was cut off by Chat's voice coming on over the loudspeaker.

"We're here!" She announced. "Everybody to the departure deck, we're getting off!" The three guys rose out of their seats, and Reid took another look at Kyle.

_Kyle didn't grow up with the mentality that Celestians were evil feral beasts in his world…_ He thought. _His viewpoint that Inferians and Celestians are one and the same is uncommon… I wish more people saw the world like he does…_

"Let's get going." Max said, playfully punching Reid in the arm a little too hard, breaking the ginger out of his reverie. "We've got a Craymel to find." Reid nodded, rubbed his arm a little, and then left with the other two for the departure deck.

* * *

In front of the temple, the team found themselves locked out.

"Who the heck would lock a Craymel temple?!?" Reid raged as he attempted futilely to open the door. "NOW how do we get inside?"

"Meredy found a relic with Melnics on it!" Meredy twirled around. Farah walked over to where the purple haired girl was dancing around.

"Does it say anything about how to get inside?" She asked, bending her neck to look at the letters sideways for whatever reason.

"Forget about that…" Max said. "This door isn't mounted on its hinges that well… All it needs is a well-placed…" Max stopped talking and took a step backward before charging into the door with his shoulder, knocking it inward. The door fell to the ground with a clatter. Everybody stared at Max speechlessly as beads of sweat rolled down the backs of their heads. "Well, come on!" He ordered, giving a hand signal to the others.

"Keele would have totally exploded on Max if he was here…" Reid said. The others nodded timidly, then followed Max, afraid of what he might do to them if angered.

* * *

Once inside, the team saw that the dungeon was well lit with Craymel bulbs illuminating each corridor. They were also instantly met with lots of static electricity – enough of it to turn Meredy's pigtails into giant purple pompoms – and everybody's hair was standing on end and was looking ridiculous (except Kyle's hair, which already stood on end and looked rather ridiculous)

"Three steps inside and I already don't like this place…" Farah commented.

"Anyway, let's get a move on." Reid said. "The faster we get through this place, the faster we find Volt and the faster we get out of here." The others nodded and progressed into the dungeon farther.

* * *

The first obstacle was dodging electric fences that periodically turned on and off. It was easy to figure out the time pattern for the gates, and the team got through nearly unscathed (save for a small zap that Max received for being a little slow through the last gate, but nothing really serious.)

After that, the team stood in front of a stone tablet. Like the first one, Meredy examined it.

"Grasp the three stars…" She read. "As one color they shine. And open the door to which the color shines."

"…Okay, that made no sense…" Reid said. "But at least one of us is able to read the Melnics…"

"Hey!" Chat growled. "Any literate Celestian can read Melnics, you idiot!"

"But Meredy's been translating for us ever since I've known her…" Kyle said. Chat then proceeded to Pow Hammer Kyle again, sending him to the floor once again. "Oww… Hey! Why am I the ONLY one who gets Pow Hammered, Chat?!?" She didn't respond.

"INTRUDER ALERT!" A loud voice resounded from nearby. Everybody jumped (including Kyle, who had never shot to his feet so fast in his life) and turned around to see three mechanical wolves coming their way. All hands went for their weapons, but Max interrupted them.

"Hang on, guys!" He said. "I'll take care of this!" Quickly, Max took out a large object from seemingly nowhere (it was really stashed under his cape) and pointed it at the enemies.

_I-Is that…_ Kyle thought, recognizing the shape of the weapon. _But then…_

"BURNING FORCE!!!" Max yelled at the top of his lungs a second later. A giant fireball boomed out of the barrel of Max's gun and quickly engulfed the wolf enemies in flames. Everybody stared at Max, totally amazed by his attack.

"A-are they finished?" Reid said, gawking. Just then, klaxons began to blare, answering his question.

"THREAT DETECTED!" One of the wolves said in its robotic voice. "CODE RED!" It and the other two wolves pounced their way into the party's ranks.

"Spiral Cannon!" Max announced, leaping in an upward spiral while battering one of the wolves with his gun. The enemy fell onto its back.

"Megasonic Thrust!" Reid announced, thrusting his way past another enemy, and then attacking from behind.

"Triple Blossom!" Farah was dealing with the third enemy, landing kick after kick on its hard shell.

The first one that Max had knocked over was struggling to get up. Meredy and Kyle used this chance to pepper it with Spread and Stone Zapper spells, respectively. One of Meredy's spells knocked the wolf back to its feet, which quickly returned the favor by slashing Meredy and Kyle with its claws, knocking them both to the ground. Assessing Meredy to be the bigger threat, it leapt towards her and tried to bite her, just barely being held off by Meredy. Kyle saw that she was in danger and used his momentum of a full-speed sprint to slam into its side. The enemy was knocked off balance, but quickly recovered.

"Oww…" Kyle complained, rubbing his shoulder. "That damn animal is way too hard…" Out of the corner of his eye, Kyle saw the beast charging at him with an even greater momentum than Kyle had use. The poor teenager was rammed hard into a wall, and the beast was ready to inflict the final blow…

"BURNING FORCE!" Max's powerful voice rang out. The antagonizing enemy was once again devoured in flames, but did not survive this time. Instead, the fire ripped through the enemy's metallic hide and destroyed it. Max ran over to where Kyle had cratered into the wall. "Hey, you all right there?" There was no response.

"Max!" Reid yelled. "I could use one of those Burning whatchamacallits right now!" The wolf he was fighting nipped at him and caught a bite of Reid's red hair, pulling some of it off his head. "Ow!" Reid put his non-sword wielding hand on his head on the now-bald spot.

"Here, take this! Magnum Missile!" Max fired 3 small white missiles out of his gun, which exploded upon impacting the hide of the enemy. The force of the small missiles was enough to knock the enemy onto its side, and Reid took over.

"Sword Rain: Alpha!" He announced, stabbing the underside of the wolf multiple times and managing to withdraw some wires from the last hole he poked into the robotic enemy. The enemy made some zapping noises before malfunctioning. That left only one more enemy.

"Okay, and here's the battle finisher!" Max called out. "BURNING FORCE!" The third Burning Force was just as powerful as the first two and the last enemy also perished to the flames.

"All right!" Farah said, thrusting a fist into the air. "We did it!"

"…Not… without… casualties…" Kyle groaned from his imprint in the wall. "I can't feel anything…" Meredy instantly ran over to him and pulled him free of the wall to heal him.

"Anyways, let's move forward." Max said once everybody had recovered.

* * *

The next obstacle was a room with one open door – the door everybody had come in through.

"Hmm… Looks like a dead end…" Reid said. "How can we get through here?"

"There are six spots on the floor…" Chat noted. "Hmm… I wonder if this has anything to do with what Meredy read? Three stars…"

"Ooh, this design looks neat!" Meredy noted. "Meredy wonders what it means, though… There are Melnic numbers etched into the floor…"

"Hey, there's some above the doors, too!" Max said, staring at one of the doors. This one says 'fifteen'."

"Ah, I see now…" Chat said, walking over to one of the spots and standing on it. The spot glowed white and said the word "GUREI" in a mechanical voice. "That means 'seven' in Melnics. Now you…" She pointed at Reid. "Stand on that spot on your left."

"This?" Reid said as he stepped onto it. It too started glowing, but this time it spoke the word "ARU" when stepped on.

"'Aru' means 'three'!" Meredy said, spinning around.

"Ah, so that means we need to find one that means 'five' now!" Kyle said, feeling smart. He randomly ran over to a button and went to stand on it.

"WAIT A SECOND!" Chat said, beckoning the blonde to stop. Unfortunately, it was too late; the button glowed beneath Kyle's feet.

"…Did I step on the wrong button?" He asked innocently. In response, the mechanical voice spoke the word "MAMU". Chat facepalmed.

"YOU IDIOT!" She yelled. "That means 'nine' in Melnics! Now our grand total is…" Just then, the door on the left opened up. "…nineteen…" Everybody stared at Kyle.

"…I had no idea that would happen…" He said, shrugging. "I mean, it's not like I can read Melnics!"

"We might as well go through that door that Kyle opened up for us…" Farah said. "I mean, it's not like we know what's behind any of these doors. For all we know, this could have been the right way all along and behind door number fifteen could have been a trap."

"Or, door nineteen could be the trap and we'd fall into it all thanks to Kyle here." Max said nonchalantly. A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Kyle's head.

"Oh, so just because I stand on one wrong button, you can blame anything that happens on the other side of this door on me…" Kyle said, annoyed sarcasm all over his voice. "I see how it is…"

* * *

Fortunately for Kyle, he had accidentally stepped on the floor switch that had led the team in the correct direction. The team realized this when they had eventually stumbled into a new room after traversing many long hallways. This new room had floating many floating platforms in it. Fortunately for the team, there was only one door to progress through… But so many floating platforms to choose from!

"Well, Lucky Picker…" Max nudged Kyle in the side a little too hard. "Does your luck continue here?"

"Umm…" Kyle stared at the platforms for a couple seconds. _Geez, I have no idea where to even begin…_ He thought. He tapped one of the platforms with his foot, and it began to launch out under him, throwing him off balance and nearly down into the pit, causing many stomachs to lurch. Luckily, a split second reaction of grabbing the side of the platform saved him from falling to his doom.

After another couple seconds, he was safely on the platform, recovering from the heart attack that he had just had with that mishap. There was one problem – the platform he was on was still floating in the middle of the bottomless pit.

"Try going onto the platform next to you!" Farah called out. Kyle looked to his side and saw another platform there. Testing every fiber of his balance, Kyle stood up and walked onto the platform, this time with less of a mishap. He continued to progress from platform to platform…

…Until they led him back to the solid ground where his friends were standing. Stepping off the final platform, he shrugged innocently. "Looks like my luck ran out…" He said, a bead of sweat running down the back of his neck.

"Let Meredy try!" The purple haired Celestian said. She hopped onto one of the platforms and it went sailing off. She too traveled from platform to platform and, rather than leading back to where she had started, like Kyle's choice, she had ended up where she needed to be. "Meredy found the right path! Follow what Meredy did!" The others looked at Meredy for a second, and one by one, they followed what she had done without incident until they had all made it onto the landing where Meredy was standing.

When the team was reunited, they took a few steps forward when, all of a sudden, flames leaped out of the ground unexpectedly.

"Whoa!" Reid said as he jumped backward slightly. "What's this?"

"A… firewall?" Max said somewhat contemplatively.

"Now what?" Farah asked. "Should we use water spells against it?" Meredy was one step ahead of Farah.

"Spread!" She announced. The geyser of water had no effect on the wall of flames.

"How about ice?" Reid suggested. Meredy once again cast a spell.

"Freeze Lancer!" The ice's effect was the same as the water's.

"Drat…" Chat said, readjusting herself slightly. "NOW how do we get by without getting singed?" During her little fidgeting motion, something slipped out of her bag. It bounced slightly and tapped Kyle's foot. The blonde looked down to see a blue-jeweled ring sitting next to his foot.

"Huh?" He wondered as he picked the ring up to examine. "What's this? Where did it come from?" He tapped the blue jewel in the center of the ring, and it started to glow. Kyle became even more confused as the glow became stronger. A second later, ice shot out from the ring towards the ceiling, shocking everybody around. Looking up, everybody could see an icicle stalactite now hanging from the ceiling. After recovering from the shock of the situation, Chat snatched the ring from Kyle.

"Aah, so this is a type of Sorcerer's Ring~~~" She said, excited. "This should do the trick…" Chat touched the gem on the ring and this time took aim at the firewall. The ice once again shot out from the ring, and, unlike Meredy's spell, stopped the fire in its tracks. "Well, that does the trick~~~" Chat said, smiling. She then pocketed the ring back into her bag.

"Guys, watch out…" Farah warned as everybody started forward. "If this awaited us here, I'm guessing Volt isn't expecting visitors… Let's be on our guards… One wrong move and we could be toast…"

"Well, there's no way to go but forward!" Max said, seemingly having ignored Farah. He led the way as the team marched into the next room to stare down what was still to lie ahead…

* * *

**Author's Nota Bene: **Yay, my first update of the New Year! Let's hope that this year will bring me lots more time to write chapters for this story! That might be hard, considering later this year, I'm gonna be starting college… At a private school. Oh well, I'll do what I'll do considering. Also, notice how I added some mini-lines between parts that needed separating but were related? I'm gonna try to add more of those more often... But who knows how that's gonna end up? Regardless, thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 21: The Electrifying Battle

**Two Destinies Chapter 21: The Electrifying Battle**

**Author's Preface: **So, my birthday has come and gone, and now I'm 18… I don't feel any different, though… I do have more inspiration to write this story, however… That's a good thing… Oh, and I still need my driver's license… *shot for going off topic*

* * *

The team had already had their fill of the traps and puzzles of Volt's temple, when they stumbled upon one more: A puzzle where they had to get by walls of lightning. The ring that assisted them earlier had proven useless here. Therefore, there was only one way through: they had to complete the puzzle.

Moving as one unit, the party stepped on the first switch, causing some of the gates to flicker on and others off. The gate right in front of them had deactivated, so they all decided to progress through that way.

"Let's keep moving." Farah said. "Hopefully Volt shouldn't be too far from here."

"This better be the last puzzle…" Reid said with a hint of annoyance on his voice. "If it's not, I'm gonna get really ticked off…"

The puzzle proved to be easier than expected. All they had to do was hit the buttons in a clockwise succession and they were through.

However, there was a nasty surprise awaiting them on the other side of the gates. Two round purple objects formed in front of their eyes after they hit the last button to the gates.

"Are those… Lightning Craymels?" Meredy asked as she looked at the purple things. In the next second, each purple thing opened its two eyes.

"Hey, those are pretty cute~~~" Farah commented. "Are those really Lightning Craymels, Meredy?" The purple haired girl nodded.

"Lightning Craymels are cute!" She chirped. Meredy skipped toward the Craymels. Reid ran after her.

"Meredy, wait a second!" He said, trying to reach her. Just then, the Craymels' eyes narrowed into a frowning expression. Before anybody could react, the Craymels transformed into balls of electrical energy and charged towards Reid and Meredy, shining brightly. Everybody looked away from them for a second, and, when their eyes recovered, Reid, Meredy, and the Craymels were gone.

"Whoa!" Kyle exclaimed. "Where the heck did Reid and Meredy go?!?" His question was answered by the grunts of Reid and Meredy hitting the ground behind them.

"Ow…" Reid said, sitting up a second later. It wasn't long before he realized that he was surrounded on all sides by the electricity from the gates. Looking over at Meredy, she too was in the same position.

"We're trapped!" Meredy said, stomping on the button on the floor near her to no avail. "Can Reid get out?" Reid too tried stepping on the button. Nothing happened.

"Guys!" Reid yelled. "Can one of you try stepping on the buttons over there so that we can possibly get out of here?"

"Don't worry!" Kyle called. "I'll help…" Before he could finish, Max had stepped on the spot that the team had used to open the way to the exit, blocking the way once again. "…out…" He finished. Looking away, he added. "Never mind, looks like Max'll be helping you instead…"

"Does that help?" Max said. Both Reid and Meredy stepped on the switches again. Only Meredy's switch did something. The gate on her left opened up and she skipped through to the next side and hit the switch there. Nothing happened.

"It's Max's move!" Meredy said, looking at the Shileska leader. Max nodded, and then took another step backward. Again, the way back to where his other three companions were standing became blocked. Reid and Meredy tried again to move, and Reid's switch activated a gate in front of him, which in turn led to the first switch that the team had pressed to get to the other side. He stepped on that switch, which opened the next gate in front of Meredy.

* * *

The puzzle continued until Reid, Meredy and Max were all safe on the other side of the electric gates. It had taken them around 5 minutes to successfully get through the puzzle again, but the team was finally reunited.

"I wonder why the Craymels attacked in the way they did…" Chat wondered aloud.

"Perhaps it was just to slow us down…" Farah suggested.

"Yeah!" Max said. "That would give Volt more time to prepare for our arrival!"

"Looks like we're gonna have one heck of a fight on our hands if that's the case…" Reid said, sighing. "Anyways, let's go."

---

Not farther in, there was a room with a large ominous door in front. Due to the nods that were exchanged among the six of them, they were all thinking the same thing: Volt was in this room. All together, they pushed open the large doors and looked into the room. It was pretty much completely black, save for a dim glow in the distance.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Chat said. "Aren't there supposed to be Craymel lamps illuminating this place?"

"Good point." Farah said. "Why aren't they working in this room?"

"We can always just follow the dim glow over there…" Reid said, pointing forward. "Maybe that's Volt?"

"Could be." Farah said. "Let's go…" The team moved forward toward the glow and, a few steps in, they started to hear some kind of buzzing noise. A few more steps in, and the buzzing became legible words.

"W-WH SWITCH GUREI CHAN RONI" it was saying. "W-WHITE, S-SWITCH, GUREI CHAN RONI" Meredy stopped walking.

"White switch?" She said. "What white switch?"

"It's not as if we could find it in this darkness anyways…" Kyle commented, shrugging.

"Kyle's right." Max said. "Let's just move forward."

A few more steps farther into the room, the object that was creating the glow became clearer. It was a large purple object that was sparking electricity every direction. It also became obvious that this was the source of the 'WHITE SWITCH GUREI CHAN RONI' chant.

"Volt!" Meredy said. "The Greater Craymel is here!" As she said that, Volt shook slightly.

"WHITE SWITCH!" It buzzed one more time, then let out a huge lightning discharge, which knocked all six of the heroes over and also energized the Craymel lamps on the walls, illuminating the entire room.

"All right, that's the last straw!" Max said, returning to his feet first. He started running toward the Greater Craymel. Meredy sat up next.

"No, Max!" She said. "Wait!" It was too late. The Shileska leader had run up right in front of the Craymel and took a swing at it. Volt shook again slightly and temporarily stopped its chant.

In the next second, it screeched "ERROR!" quite loudly and zapped Max. Reid gasped, and then rose to his feet.

"Max!" He said. "We need to help him!" Reid unsheathed his sword. "Demon Fang!" The Arte went right under the Greater Craymel. However, it didn't go without notice.

"WHITE SWITCH!" Volt cried, ceasing its attack on Max and sending a bolt of electricity at Reid. The redhead leaped backwards out of harm's way. His companions also returned to their feet and took battle ready poses. Max growled loudly from the Craymel's side.

"All right, is that how you want to play, Volt?!?" He said. "Take this!" He pulled out his gun. "Magnum Missile!" Once again, three tiny missiles came out his gun and exploded upon impacting the Craymel. It didn't seem fazed.

"GUREI CHAN RONI!" Volt cried, suddenly accelerating toward Reid and the other members of the party. Upon tackling them, each of them flew in a different direction and was rather frazzled by getting smacked with so much electrical power. The Craymel let off another discharge and added more insult to injury. Meredy was quick to react, though.

"Nurse!" She cried, using a spell she had never used before. Everybody was healed by magical little nurses giving them all a pick-me-up, which disappeared as soon as they had performed their duty. The entire team stared at the Craymel.

"Well, looks like we can't attack with physical attacks or otherwise we're gonna get jolted…" Farah commented. "Now what?"

"Here's what!" Kyle announced. "Burn Strike!" The meteors of flame quickly fell down upon the Craymel. Volt shook a little when it was hit, and its chant hiccupped slightly. Its eyes also looked like they were flinching from the blow. "Yeah!" the blond cheered, unintentionally stealing Max's catchphrase at the same time.

"ERROR!" Volt screeched again, lashing out a tendril of lightning at Kyle, which grabbed him and threw him across the room, slamming the teenager into the wall behind where they had first found Volt, next to which his battered body lay limp.

"Kyle!" Max yelled as he saw this. "Okay, Craymel! You're gonna pay for this!" Max cocked his gun as it started to gather energy. In the next second, he loosed the attack. "BURNING FORCE!" The giant blast of firepower flew across the field and hit Volt. Once again, Volt's eyes gave an indication that the Burning Force attack had harmed it.

Max's Arte was enough of a distraction so that Farah could run over to where Kyle was and she started to heal his wounds. When he sat up after being healed, something bleeped from above him. Nearby, there were three pillar-like objects with something on the top of each that had started spinning like a roulette wheel. Both Kyle and Farah stared at this confused. At that moment, Farah looked at the spot that Kyle had hit when he was thrown and saw that there was a white switch over him.

"A white switch!" She said. "This must be what Volt was talking about!"

"But what about 'gurei chan roni'?" Kyle asked, still sounding a little weak.

"That means 'seven six five' in Melnics!" Meredy chirped while dodging a bolt of electricity. Kyle held his hands over his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

"But what is that supposed to MEAN?!?" He whined. "I hate puzzles like these…"

"I have a hunch…" Chat said, peppering Volt with Pow Hammers while simultaneously talking. "Maybe those numbers have something to do with those spinning columns over there?" Farah looked at the columns, and then at Kyle.

"You keep blasting Volt with spells, I'll check them out." Kyle nodded, then returned to his feet to begin spell casting again. Volt noticed that Farah was heading for the columns and threw out one of its tendrils of lightning at her.

Reid saw that she was going to be hit and threw himself in between Volt and Farah, putting up his sword to defend himself from the lightning. It wasn't long before the lightning was starting to creep around the sword. "GUARDIAN!" Reid announced, a green orb of energy appearing to give him an extra layer of protection. Farah stopped in her tracks when she saw that Reid was getting attacked. "Just go!" Reid said. "I'll be fine!" She nodded, and then ran the rest of the way to the columns. At the point when she had gotten there, Reid's Guardian Arte failed, and he was grabbed by the electricity and held up high.

"REID!" She yelled, accidentally hitting something when she spun around. There was a clicking sound, and then the column over the button she had just hit stopped and said the word "CHAN" in a mechanized voice. Farah turned around to see that she had stopped the roulette of the middle column.

"Gurei chan roni!" Meredy said with her eyes bright with realization. "Farah already has 'chan' for the middle, so Farah now needs 'gurei' for the first column and 'roni' for the last column!"

"As for Reid, I'll save him!" Kyle announced, throwing his arms skyward. "Voltic Heat!" The spell rained down from above and battered Volt with wind. The Craymel didn't seem very affected by the attack.

"Spread!" Meredy announced. A jet of water came up under Volt, who shook violently.

"ERROR!" It said again, still holding onto Reid high above the battlefield.

"It's not working!" Kyle yelled. "We can't get Volt to drop Reid! Flame Drive!" His fireballs had very little effect on the Craymel.

"Farah, don't just stand there!" Max said. "Try hitting the other buttons on the other columns!" She nodded, and then hit the button on the column to the left of her. It said the word 'ARU' in its mechanical voice.

"Ugh, that's not right!" Farah said, running to the last column because the button on that column had already depressed and wouldn't rise again. Hitting the last button, the voice chirped 'GUREI'. "…Wrong column…" She said. Just as she finished saying that, the two columns with the incorrect numbers started spinning again. However, the middle column, which had had the correct number inputted, was locked into place.

At that moment, Farah felt the force of something landing near her. Looking to her side, she saw that Kyle had landed in front of the other spinning column. He launched one more Stone Zapper spell, and then turned to face Farah. "I'll help you get the right numbers!" He said, nodding. "This one needs the number 'gurei', correct?" Farah nodded. Kyle then hit the button and it stopped on the number 'WHIS'. Farah's side stopped on the number 'CHAN'. The columns started spinning again.

All the while, Max, Chat, and Meredy were keeping the Craymel at bay with their attacks. However, no matter how much damage Volt received, it showed no signs of slowing down, nor did it give any indication that it would free the captive Reid.

"This Craymel's unstoppable!" Chat yelled. She was then hit with a lightning bolt, which made the blue feathers on her hat stand on end.

"Hurry up, you two!" Max said to Farah and Kyle. Kyle shot back a retort.

"We're doing the best we can!" He yelled. He hit the button again, which landed on 'GUREI'. "Yes!" He exclaimed. "I got the right number! Farah, it's up to you!" Farah nodded, and then hit the button again, but it came up with the number 'KIRU'.

"Why won't this give me the last number?" Farah exclaimed, hitting the button again and getting the number 'MAMU'. Just then, Volt reached out with another tendril of lightning and grabbed Farah.

"NO!" Kyle yelled, trying to reach out and grab Farah. He missed grabbing her, but when he reached out, his foot accidentally kicked the button again, and the machine stopped on 'RONI'. Kyle quickly turned around when he heard the machine say the number. "Hey! That's the right number!" All of a sudden, Volt started to shake violently, then his eyes closed and he slowly slinked back towards the spot where the team had first found the Craymel, dropping Reid and Farah on the way back.

Once the Craymel was back in its original position, its eyes opened up again and it saw the heroes. "WELCOME TO THE TEMPLE OF THE LIGHTNING CRAYMEL." Volt said its robotic voice. "IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU WISH OF ME?"

"Seems it's calmed down…" Reid said. "That's good."

"Meredy wants Volt to help our team stop the Grand Fall!" The purple haired Celestian said. "Will you assist us?"

"I AM GRATEFUL THAT YOU HELP RESET ME." Volt said. "I SHALL ASSIST YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN. SHALL I ENTER YOUR CRAYMEL CAGE?"

"Actually…" Meredy said. "Meredy wants you to go into this Craymel Cage…" Everybody stared at the red Craymel Cage that she held up. Meredy's Craymel Cage was normally green.

"Is that… Keele's Craymel Cage?" Reid asked, slightly amused that the Celestian mage had managed to snag Keele's cage.

"Yep!" Meredy said. "Please go into Keele's Craymel Cage! It will be a nice surprise for Keele!"

"VERY WELL." Volt said before transforming into a ball of glowing purple energy and disappearing into the red Craymel Cage.

Just then, both Keele's and Meredy's Craymel Cages began to glow, and six beams of light poured out of the two cages. As they descended to where Volt had previously been, they combined into two different colored lights – black and white. From those two lights, the Governing Greater Craymels Shadow and Rem, respectively, appeared before the party.

"Baiba!" Meredy exclaimed. "Rem and Shadow!"

"I see that you have gathered the assistance of all six of the other Greater Craymels…" The Greater Craymel of Light, Rem said.

"In honor of your achievement, we bestow a gift upon the bearer of the Divine Aurora." The Greater Craymel of Darkness, Shadow said. The two Craymels looked at Reid.

"W-what, me?" The flustered ginger said. "What kind of gift?"

"Hold out your sword." Rem said. Reid did as he was told. All of a sudden, the two Craymels held up their hands towards Reid's sword, which instantly began to glow. Reid didn't flinch or anything as his blade transformed into a shining, perfectly tapered silver blade when the light had faded away. Everybody stared at this new sword (and a pang of jealousy went though Kyle's body; he still was weaponless while Reid had just received a new sword from these Craymels)

"Use this weapon to vanquish any evil that sets foot in your way, Chosen of the Divine Aurora." Shadow said.

"So…" Reid said, making a few practice slashes with his new sword before looking at the Craymels again. "I really DO have the Divine Aurora…"

"Yep!" Meredy said. "Reid has Fibrill, which will become the Divine Aurora!"

"…And to think that I didn't want to go on this adventure at first…" He said. "And now it's revealed that I am the chosen hero…" Something in Kyle went off when Reid said the word 'hero'. The blond started growling.

"The unwilling shouldn't be the hero…" He said quietly. Louder, he added, "I've devoted my entire life to becoming a hero, but that honor goes to somebody who didn't want to be one in the first place?!? It's not fair!"

"Kyle…" Farah said, trying to calm him down. Kyle pushed her away.

"**I** should be the hero!" He yelled. "Instead, my missing weapon has degraded my status to the lowly mage sidekick! It's not fair!" Just then, the Greater Craymel of Darkness cleared his throat.

"I sense a lack of Craymels in his body… Do you think he's the one?" Shadow said to Rem.

"I believe so." The Greater Craymel of Light answered. "You there, with the blond hair…"

"Me?!?" Kyle said, instantly forgetting his anger towards Reid.

"We have a message for the Hero of the Third World." Rem said. Kyle's eyes lit up.

"I-I'm not from Eternia, if that's what you're talking about!" He said happily. _And they called me a hero, too!_

"Indeed…" Shadow said. "There is something important we must tell you. You must find the Sword of Destiny, or else you will surely be doomed to the darkness… And not MY darkness either, mind you…" The joy on Kyle's face slipped away.

"D-doomed?" He repeated quietly. "Me?"

"Evil is growing stronger every day, and it is searching for you." Rem said. "Without the Sword of Destiny, you won't stand a chance against it."

"So, all I have to do to stop this darkness is find the Sword of Destiny?" Kyle said, his face still looking somewhat shocked.

"Yes." Rem said. "And hurry: They have already started searching the land." As the Craymel said this, she and Shadow faded away.

"…Doomed to the darkness… Sword of Destiny…" Kyle repeated in a zombielike manner. "Why me?"

"We'll help you find the Sword of Destiny, Kyle." Reid said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Don't you worry a second about this 'darkness'."

"But right now, we should head back to Shileska's base." Max said. "We have a Craymel to drop off!"

"Yes!" Meredy chirped. "Meredy MUST give this surprise to Keele!" And with that, the team started to leave Volt's temple.

* * *

**Author's Final Note:** (Yes, I renamed it) And with that, the subplot-that-wasn't-in-the-actual-game is set in motion. Three guesses where this is going? :3 Keep your eyes peeled for new chapters! More about this 'darkness' is coming soon! And thanks for reading! ^_^


	7. Chapter 22: The Genius From the Past

**Two Destinies Chapter 22: The Genius from the Past**

**Author's Preface: **Surprise! Two chapters are being released together! One for the ToE arc and one for the ToD2 arc. Now, go enjoy my little surprise within this surprise~~~ There's something here that I thought I wasn't going to incorporate but eventually *coughnowcough* did… (Kinda obvious from the title of the chapter, tbh…) :D *shot*

* * *

Loni sighed rather miserably. He took another bite out of the sandwich that Nanaly had prepared for him while staring at the aurora shining in the distance. It was the first time in hours that he found a minute to himself; Nanaly was preparing more food for future lunches and Judas was off to who-knows-where. Loni, however, was enjoying lunch and was wallowing in self-pity at the same time. He took another bite from the sandwich and looked around. Just then, he heard Nanaly say something.

"Loni! Could you come here?!?" She yelled. Loni rolled his eyes a little and stood up. After stretching his arms out for a second and taking another bite out of his sandwich, he ran off in the direction that he had heard Nanaly's voice come from.

"What is it, Nanaly?" He asked once she was in sight. The hot-pink haired archer turned around at his voice. She frowned a little when she saw the piece of sandwich in his hand.

"You're not done with that one sandwich YET?!?" She hollered. "Geez, how long does it take you to eat one turkey sandwich, Loni? I was going to offer you another sandwich, but you're not done with the first one… Weren't YOU the one who wanted us to stop here and have lunch in the first place?" A bead of sweat ran down the back of Loni's head. She was right – he WAS the one who wanted lunch in the first place.

"S-sorry, Nanaly…" He said, stuffing the rest of the sandwich into his mouth. It was a little less than half a sandwich remaining, but it was enough to fill up his mouth. Nanaly put her hands on her hips.

"Don't just wolf it all down, Loni!" She said. "You're going to…" As if on cue, Loni started coughing hard, nearly falling to his knees in a fit of furious coughing. Nanaly rolled her eyes. "…choke." She finished. Nanaly then took a fist to Loni's back, knocking him over and causing him to spit out the instigating sandwich bite. Loni coughed a couple times, but he did not stand up.

"Geez!" He gasped breathlessly. "Did you have to hit that hard, Nanaly?!? I think you broke my ribs!"

"That's what you get for wolfing down your food, Loni…" She said, smirking. Just then, everything went blindingly white from behind Nanaly for a couple seconds before going back to normal. Once sight was restored, Nanaly turned around to see if there was any indication as to what had just occurred.

"What the hell was that, Nanaly?" Loni said, standing up. Nanaly shook her head.

"I'm not sure…" She said. "…But it came from this direction…" She pointed in a random direction in front of her, towards a bunch of woods. "Do you think we should see what it was?"

"N-no way!" Loni said. "What if it's something dangerous and troublesome? I'm not eager to get myself killed, y'know…"

"What if something happened to Judas?" Nanaly suggested. Loni harrumphed.

"Judas can take care of himself…" Loni said, crossing his arms.

"Well, I say we should go see if Judas is okay…" Nanaly wrapped her hand around Loni's arm dragged him off towards the distance.

---

Nanaly and Loni had been searching for whatever had caused the brightness earlier as well as Judas, but found no sign of either of them… That is, until Loni happened to hear something. It was some kind of low growling noise. He instantly whipped out his poleaxe and made Nanaly look at him strange.

"What's going on?" She asked, taking out her bow just in case.

"Wolves…" He said. "I hear them growling… This is in case they decide to attack us…" Just then, there was some kind of shrill voice that resounded from nearby.

"EXECUTION!" It said. The voice was soon followed by a strange hissing sound and wolves whimpering and howling in high pitches. There was no more growling once the sounds had subsided.

"…Did something just kill those wolves?!?" Loni said, gripping his spear even tighter. "…Judas?"

"No." Nanaly said. "That wasn't Judas' voice… It was too high pitched to be him…"

"Aww, man! It's completely trashed!" The voice came again. Loni and Nanaly exchanged glances. They silently agreed to try and figure out what belonged to that voice. They slowly advanced toward where they had heard the voice. Looking past trees, they both tried to look for something that might be the owner of the voice. Just then, there was a strange whooshing sound for half a second, but nothing else happened. After a couple seconds, Loni smelled smoke. He started looking around and caught Nanaly's terrified expression when she looked at him.

"Loni! Above you!" She cried. In response, Loni looked above him and, sure enough, he saw that the smoke was coming from the tree that he was next to smoldering above him.

"WHOA!" He yelled, jumping away from the tree in response. "Aqua Spiral!" Loni's spell doused the fire quickly. He sighed with relief. "What the hell caused that?" He wondered aloud.

"Look, Loni." Nanaly said, pointing through the trees. Loni concentrated on whatever was on the other side of the trees. He finally saw it. There was a woman in strange clothes who had pink hair coming in his direction.

"Well, what have we here?" She said in the same shrill voice that Loni and Nanaly had heard earlier. "A person from the future? It's gotta be… Those clothes, my my…"

"…Future?" Loni said, looking at the woman strangely. "What, are you from the past? And what's wrong with my clothes?" The woman said nothing and just kept staring at him before looking above.

"…Did you put that out?" She asked, apparently oblivious to the fact that she had been asked a question.

"What's going on here?" Nanaly said, walking over to the strange woman and Loni. The woman turned to look at Nanaly.

"…Is this your girlfriend?" The woman asked. Loni blushed a little. Nanaly's face turned the color of her hair and she shook her head out.

"N-no way!" Nanaly spat. "I would never be the girlfriend of a pervert like that!" Loni frowned, doubly hurt. The strange woman's unusual face gave no indication as to what she was thinking. She turned away from both of them.

"I see…" She said, walking away. "Well, nice meeting you…"

"Hold on…" Nanaly said, crossing her arms. The strange woman stopped. "Just who are you? Did you cause that bright flash earlier?"

"My name is Harold..." The woman continued to walk away. Loni and Nanaly went after her, still curious about this Harold woman. All of a sudden, they came upon a small clearing where the pieces of something silvery were scattered about. The largest intact piece sat on top of what looked like the stump of a tree that had exploded. "Boy, wouldn't my brother have wanted to hear about this… Everybody said that I was crazy to try and make such a thing, but noooo~~~"

"…What's going on here?" A familiar voice said from nearby. Loni and Nanaly turned around. Sure enough, Judas was standing behind them, arms crossed as he stared at Harold.

"Geez, Judas…" Nanaly said. "You snuck up on us… If you were an enemy assassin, we would be as good as dead." Judas scoffed.

"I wasn't trying to be sneaky…" He said. "You might want to pay more attention to your surround…"

"…Is that a dragon skull that you're wearing?" The Harold woman said, striding between Loni and Nanaly towards Judas. Judas raised an eyebrow at the strange woman.

"And just who are you?" He said. His question fell on deaf ears.

"Ooh~~~" Harold cooed. "It really is a dragon skull! Lemme take a look at it! I've always wanted to examine one up close~~~" She grabbed one of the feathers on Judas' mask and started to pull. Judas instantly put his hands on his mask and pulled away. Beads of sweat rolled down the back of Loni and Nanaly's heads.

"W-what are you doing?!?" He yelled. "I'm not going to let you take this mask off! Just who are you, anyways?!?" Harold harrumphed.

"How many times are you guys going to ask me that question?" She said. "Like I said to those two before…" She pointed to Loni and Nanaly over her shoulder. "…My name is Harold. Harold Berselius." Everybody's faces transmogrified in surprise at this claim.

"H-Harold Berselius?" Nanaly said. "You're named after the famous inventor from the Ae'ther Wars?"

"That was over a thousand years ago!" Loni noted. Harold's face lit up.

"Ooh, a thousand years in the future and I'm still well known?!?" She said. "That's quite the honor~~~" Harold gave a small curtsey. Loni and Nanaly sweatdropped.

"…Wait; you can't be THE Harold…" Loni said. "Harold Berselius was a guy… Besides, even he was a woman, Harold should have died a long time ago…" Harold put her hands on her hips.

"Okay, there are two things wrong with that statement." She said. "I am neither dead nor a guy… Then again, with the latter, I don't blame you for thinking that way…"

"What do you mean?" Nanaly asked. Harold laughed.

"I did that on purpose. I made it look as if I really was a man… I mean, even my name is that of a man…" Nanaly sweatdropped.

"Can you tell me exactly why you did such a thing, Harold?" She asked. Judas grunted.

"I can't believe that you're actually Harold Berselius…" He said. "Nothing about you makes me think that way…"

"Oh really?" She said. "Just look around you! There are pieces of my time machine scattered about! Only a true genius like me could invent something that could transcend time itself!" Harold broke into an evil laugh that sent shivers down Loni's back. Judas looked unimpressed.

"How am I to know that this… thing used to be a time machine?" Judas said. "It could be the remnants of anything, for all I know…"

"How about you ask me something that only THE Harold Berselius should be able to know?" She said, crossing her arms. "Go on, ask away. I can tell you all about my brother Karell, the Ae'ther War, the E'rther Army, anything. Just try me."

"All right, can you tell us about the Swordians, then?" Nanaly said. "If you're really Harold Berselius, then that means that you created the Swordians…"

"Ahh, the Swordians~~~" Harold's vocal tone changed to one of self-appreciation. "There are six Swordians, each of them created around a different element. Each Swordian possesses the personality of the person that they are named after. There's Swordian Dymlos, the Swordian of Fire, named after Commander Dymlos Timber; Swordian Atwight, the Swordian of Water, named after Colonel of the Medical Corps Atwight Eks; Swordian Igtenos, the Swordian of Wind, named after the Intelligence Unit Leader Igtenos Minarde; Swordian Chaltier, the Swordian of Earth, named after Major Pierre de Chaltier; Swordian Clemente, the Swordian of Lightning, named after Chief of Staff Clemente Laville …and last, but CERTAINLY not least, Swordian Berselius, having no element and named after yours truly." (Author's note: that had to be the longest run-on sentence I've ever written… XD) Harold bowed when she said this. Loni and Nanaly looked at one another.

"Proof enough for me…" Loni said, shrugging.

"I'm satisfied." Nanaly responded. "So Harold, what are you going to do now? Fix your time machine?"

"I can't." Harold said, a frown sliding onto her face. "The thing is broken beyond repair… In that case, I'll…" Just then, there was the sound of wolves growling again. "Ooh, those pesky little wolves again?" Harold took out an elaborate looking staff. "I'll just finish them all off with one of my spells."

"It sounds like there's a lot more than last time…" Loni said, holding his pole axe in a battle-ready position. Nanaly and Judas also took out their weapons. Sure enough, as Loni predicted, there seemed to be a couple packs worth of wolves running at them. It seemed like an endless number of wolves were streaming towards them.

"Let's do this!" Nanaly said, firing some arrows into the mob of wolves. Loni and Judas started casting spells. Harold, however, just stood and watched.

"So… You three are going to attempt to fight these animals?" She inquired. "You know that they badly outnumber you…"

"That doesn't matter!" Loni yelled, looking back. He then followed up by casting the Shadow Edge spell that he had been preparing. "We'll fight until the very end if we need to!" As he said this, he impaled a wolf and killed it with his poleaxe and threw the dead body at another enemy. Afterward, he punched an enemy that was about to bite the still spell casting Judas into a tree. It was then that Judas cast an Air Pressure spell followed by Ceiling Fall, and then zipped across the forest floor with nearly blinding speed, shedding enemy blood left and right. One of Nanaly's arrows had ripped through a small number of the wolves. Harold still didn't seem impressed.

"That doesn't seem very… efficient…" She said. Nanaly stopped to look at the crazy pink haired woman.

"Then how the hell do you propose attacking these things?!?" She yelled while repelling one of the wolves with a swift kick to its head.

"Let me show you some true magic!" Harold spun around as she said this. By the time she faced forward again, she had the elaborate staff from before in one hand and a dagger in the other.

"We know how to cast magic, Harold…" Judas scoffed. He then attacked a wolf that had grabbed his cape and launched a Stone Zapper spell at handful of other wolves, taking them out with his swords while they were distracted by his magic.

"Oh… So then you know how to do something like this?" Harold said confidently. Everybody stared at her. "Crazy Comet!" Harold threw her arm to the sky and a handful of white meteors struck the ground around the wolves, killing some of them. "Twinkle Star!" A large bright star and several tiny stars appeared in the middle of the wolves and sparkled brightly, somehow killing them in the middle of the brightness. "Mix Master!" The stars from before killed even more of the wolves. "And… Finally… PRINCESS OF MERMAID!" A blue star appeared in the sky, as well as a multicolored mist below. The aftermath of Harold's magic had left very few survivors, and those few survivors were fleeing. Loni, Nanaly, and Judas (even if he wasn't showing it outwardly) were impressed.

"You took out all those wolves in four spells?" Nanaly said. Harold nodded.

"How the heck did magic like that not end up getting passed down to us here in the future?" Loni said, puzzled. Harold ignored his question.

"So, where exactly are you three headed?" She asked. "I doubt you're going to want to stay in these woods much longer…"

"We're trying to find out more about that." Nanaly pointed up towards the aurora ahead of them. Harold raised an eyebrow when she looked at it. "It just magically appeared the other night, and we want to know how it can stay that bright in the daylight."

"Hmm…" Harold placed a finger on her lips thoughtfully. "So, you three are going after a magic Aurora…" She placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I'm coming with you."

"Huh?" Loni asked. "What made you decide to do that?" Harold chuckled.

"Isn't it obvious?" She said. "You've piqued my interest. I'm now interested in that aurora, too. Perhaps it has some kind of untapped magic source that is far more powerful than Lens!" All three of the others looked at her like she was nuts. "Now, let's go find out more about that aurora!" She started walking forward. Loni, Nanaly, and Judas looked at each other.

"Should we allow her to join us?" Nanaly asked.

"She can hold her own in battle, so it's not like she'd become extra baggage or something like that…" Loni commented.

"Her magic talents are impressive…" Judas said quietly.

"Well, the more the merrier, then…" Loni said. "Let's go!" The three of them starting walking after Harold so that they could catch up to their new travel companion.

* * *

Large numbers of people had gathered around the large grey tower that stood near the edge of the city. Their eyes were all pointed skyward at the four bright lights dancing above. From within the tower, Elraine looked out below to the people.

"One little abnormal event and these humans come swarming around like flies…" She sighed. She had no idea of what to do with the distraction shining above the tower.

Though she wasn't trying to hear what the people were saying, she happened to notice something one small child said. The child had said "Maybe we can wish on the aurora. Maybe the aurora will give us miracles…" The statement unsettled the white priestess.

_One little aurora appears…_ She thought. _And people start doubting the miracle-making power of Fortuna… Stupid aurora…_ Just then, an evil thought entered her head. _However, I think I know of a way to turn this around in my favor…_ She descended the stairs to the level where the crowd was gathered. As soon as she had opened the door to the castle, the people got even louder.

"So, you want to know more about the aurora above this building, I take it?" Elraine spoke in her poisonously sweet voice. The people grew quiet. "This aurora is very special… It's called… The Eternal Aurora…" She smiled slightly at her quick thinking. "The Eternal Aurora is a blessing that has been granted to our world by the Goddess Fortuna. It appears in the daytime due to the magic of Lens… It can grant wishes and miracles… But only if it has enough power…" The people started whispering amongst themselves. "Right now, it only has enough power to illuminate the sky with its beauty, but if it can receive the power of even more Lens, it will start performing miracles…" _That should do the trick…_ Elraine thought. _Those foolish people should now be practically throwing Lens at my feet…_

As expected, the people were starting to offer their Lens to her, asking for their deepest desires to come true. One by one, she promised each person that their wish would come true once the Eternal Aurora was at full power. She had captured them hook, line, and sinker…

* * *

**Author's Final Note: **Well, here ends my double whammy. I hope you enjoyed the extra little surprise. I'm now going to take a nap… Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 23: The Dangerous Dreams

**Two Destinies Chapter 23: The Dangerous Dreams**

**Author's Preface: **Ta-da! I'm not dead yet! *shot for spoofing Monty Python* Did you miss me? I've just been really lazy about getting updates out. My Kyle Fanclub on the Official Tales forums turned a year old almost 3 months ago and there was no update to supplement that... (My 18th birthday was also 3 months ago, but I mentioned that already, didn't I? :3) Well, here's the next ToE chapter. I don't know when the next ToD2 chapter's gonna come out, but I have things beginning to plan out. Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

_You must find the Sword of Destiny, or you'll be doomed to the Darkness..._

The words of the two Craymels lingered in Kyle's mind as he aimlessly stared at the ocean from the Van Eltia's open deck. The sea breeze gently tugged at Kyle's flaxen locks, and the smell of sea salt tickled his nose, but his mind was too distracted to have noticed any of this. "Sword of Destiny..." Kyle said in a monotone once again. "I have to find the Sword of Destiny..."

"You won't be alone in your search." A voice said from behind Kyle, making him jump a bit and jolting him from his distracting thoughts. Turning around, Kyle saw that it was none other than Farah behind him, her orange dress billowing in the wind. Farah smiled when Kyle's sapphire eyes had met her own hazel ones, and then continued. "I came up here to thank you for helping me stop Volt, but I found you in a trance-like state."

"I was just thinking about what Rem and Shadow said." Kyle explained, diverting his eyes from Farah's face onto her dress. Farah chuckled.

"I could tell." She said, and then she moved a hand onto one of the smaller boy's shoulders. "Don't worry, Kyle. We're gonna help you find that sword no matter what it takes and protect you from the darkness. No problem!" Kyle smiled.

"Y'know, I half-expected Reid to be the one who'd come and talk to me about this first, so I'm surprised to see you first." Farah laughed.

"Reid's stuffing his face, so he's a little preoccupied." A look of understanding lit up Kyle's face. He nodded.

All of a sudden, the sound of a stomach rumbling loudly broke the silence. Kyle laughed sheepishly. "Eh heh heh..." Kyle said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Looks like I'm hungry myself." Kyle started to move towards the stairs going down to the lower deck.

However, just before he could move out of arm's reach, Farah grabbed his hand. Confused, Kyle turned to face Farah.

"Please, wait a second..." She implored, not letting go of Kyle's hand. "There's something I've really needed to ask you for a while now."

"What is it?" Kyle asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"How do you do it, Kyle?"

"How do I do what?"

Farah looked away from Kyle's face. "I want to know how you can cope with everything... Between being stuck on a foreign world, losing your girlfriend, nearly dying, being unable to properly fight, and now having your life threatened by this... Darkness, you should be miserable. And yet, besides how I found you just a few minutes ago, you're almost always smiling despite the weight on your shoulders... How do you do it?" Just then, Kyle started laughing. Farah's face turned red. "Hey, I was asking a serious question!"

Ignoring Farah's last statement, he replied, "There's no secret! All I do is enjoy each moment of the present – I live for now. If I dwell upon the past too much, it ruins the present." Farah smiled.

"I see..." She said. Randomly changing topics, she added, "So, would you like me to whip up something good to eat? I have a new recipe~~~" Kyle's eyes glittered like polished sapphire gems.

"Yeah!" He said, beaming widely. "Please do!" After a laugh was exchanged between them, they walked toward the kitchen together.

* * *

The porcelain bowl clattered dangerously onto the table, twirling around like a top as it tried to stop spinning. A hearty laugh boomed from nearby, filling the entire room with loud noise. The laugh belonged to none other than Max.

"WELL!" He said, smiling widely. "That's the fastest I've ever seen you eat! That time could rival Reid's!" Max's muscular arm wrapped around Kyle's shoulders and yanked the boy in closer to the Celestian man's body. Kyle wasn't too thrilled about being squeezed, but he wasn't strong enough to escape Max's grasp. Max continued, "I've never seen you wolf down food like that before!" A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Kyle's head.

"W-well..." Kyle said after (finally) managing to weasel himself out of Max's chokehold. "It just so happens that Farah's new recipe is for my favorite dish of all time! It's no wonder I finished so quickly!"

"Really?" Farah said, a nearly empty pan in one of her hands. "Your favorite dish is..." She took another look at the pan. "...mabo curry?" Kyle grinned.

"Yep!" He announced. "I LOVED the mabo curry that my Auntie Lily always made for me! It was the best thing in the world!" Farah frowned. Quickly realizing his faux pas, Kyle added. "B-but your mabo curry is really good too, Farah." A smile returned to her face, and she chuckled.

"Thanks." She said. "So, would you like it if I made this more often, Kyle?"

"That would be great!" He exclaimed, his face glowing very brightly. "I'd really appreciate it!"

"I wouldn't mind having this more often, as well..." Reid said, also setting down his finished bowl onto the table. He stood up and stretched. "Now that I'm full, I'm gonna head to the open deck if anybody wants me..." He yawned. In the next few seconds, Reid had departed from the kitchen. Blinking once after Reid had left, Kyle got up and left as well, going after his friend.

* * *

The ambiance of the Van Eltia gliding calmly over the sea was only being broken by an occasional seagull cry, but was otherwise very quiet. Reid was lying on his back, staring up at the Celestian sky. His thoughts, however, were focused upon something on the other side of the clouds: Inferia. He was thinking about how pointless it was to watch clouds go by here on Celestia when the sky was a giant gray cloud mass already. Cloud watching was a lot more interesting on Inferia. Just then, a noise caused Reid's thoughts to stray back to Celestia. A second later, he figured out what had made the noise: Kyle was kneeling over him, staring down at Reid. Just then, in a delayed reaction, Reid jolted upright into a seated position with a yelp, causing Kyle to jump backwards himself. The swordsmen locked eyes for a second before they simultaneously burst out in laughter.

Reid stopped first. "What brings you up here to the deck?" He asked, chuckling slightly. A warm smile glowed from Kyle's face.

"No special reason~~~" He mused happily. "I just wanted to enjoy the afternoon with you." Reid smiled.

"Well, you're welcome to join me in watching the clouds if you'd like." He said. "Just lie down and look up. That's all there is to it." As Reid said this, he leaned back to look up at the clouds once again. A second later, he was joined by Kyle, and they both stared up at the heavens together.

Kyle had started out cloud watching, but the rocking of the ship and the comfort of being next to a close friend eventually had lulled the blonde off to sleep.

His dream had started out as a simple image of an endless blue sky that was far clearer than Celestia's sky all around him, the clouds hovering quietly and slowly, but then a voice broke the calming silence. "D-d-d-des-s-stin..." It was trying to say something... Something like... "Destiny..." The voice had finally uttered a legible word. "Destiny..." It repeated. "Child of Destiny..."

"...That's me?" He wondered to himself. However, his thoughts could be heard as clearly as if he had been saying them aloud.

"Yes... The Child of Destiny... Pure... Innocent... Loving... A beautiful heart, writing his own fate without the guidance of the heavens... Writing his own destiny..." Kyle shook his head.

"That's not true." He said. "My father is always watching me from heaven, showing me the right way He's the one helping to write my destiny."

"Your father, huh?" The voice's tone carried a little more bitterness. "Do you really think that your father is watching you right now?" The sky was starting to turn gray.

"I know he is. No matter whether he was alive or dead, he'd been watching me. Always. And he always will."

"Then listen here:" The voice no longer had any airiness behind it and sounded completely dark. "Despite what you may think, nobody's watching you..." Kyle blinked disbelievingly. "You have no idea how far off the safest path you have deviated... The Darkness shall devour you... It's only a matter of time now..."

"No!" Kyle shook his head out and spoke aloud, rather than with his thoughts. "I won't be devoured by the Darkness! I WILL find the Sword of Destiny!" The voice started laughing evilly.

"It's too late for you! I have already found you! It's just a matter of time before I send the Darkness to find you!" The voice continued its evil laughter while a sound started to permeate the air. As it got louder, Kyle could tell that it was the sound of somebody screaming. Once it got a little louder, he realized that it was the sound of himself screaming in pain.

At that moment, Kyle awoke with a yelp and shot up into a sitting position, breathing heavily. Reid sat up slowly. "Something wr..." One look at the fully-constricted pupils in Kyle's eyes was enough to answer the question. "What happened?" Reid changed his question.

"The Darkness..." Kyle said between gasps. "It's found me... I'm not safe anymore..." Behind the gasps, fearful tears started welling up and his voice was getting choked up. "I don't have the Sword of Destiny... I'm gonna die... What can I do?" At that moment, a concerned Reid wrapped an arm around Kyle's shoulders.

"Don't worry..." He said, bringing the younger blonde closer to him. "I promised you that no matter what, I'll stay by your side. The Darkness is gonna have to get through me before it can even think of hurting you." Reid winked a little. A small smile and new confidence lit up Kyle's face.

"You're right." He said. "Thank you, Reid..." Kyle moved in even closer to his friend, who in response put his other arm around Kyle's shoulders and held him closely in a protective way.

* * *

As the Van Eltia came back into Tinnsia, the town was continuing its usual hustle and bustle. Max lead the team back to Shileska's base. Almost as soon as they had entered, a familiar voice greeted them.

"There you are!" Keele Zeibel was standing before them, his body language exuding impatience. "That took forever! Did you at least get Volt?"

"Keele!" Meredy chirped as she practically tackled him. "Meredy has a surprise for Keele!"

"A surprise?" Keele said, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of surprise?" Before he knew it, there was a red Craymel Cage suspended in front of his face. "My Craymel Cage!" He cried, selfishly snatching it from Meredy. "So THAT's where it went off to! Why did you take my Craymel Cage, Meredy?!?" Meredy was unfazed by Keele's rudeness.

"Take a look at it, Keele!" She said, grinning. Keele took another look at the cage closely, and then his eyebrows raised.

"Y-you gave ME Volt?" He asked, looking up from the cage at Meredy. His face turned red. He felt so stupid for yelling at Meredy like that right after she had just given him this gift. "T-thank you... And I'm sorry..." Keele averted his eyes as he thanked and apologized to Meredy.

"So..." Max said, changing the subject. "Is the Craymel Cannon ready to go yet, Kevin?" Everybody looked at Max like he had three heads. Guessing who he was referring to, Keele responded first.

"It's Keele, not Kevin..." He said, shaking his head. Max looked unabashed. "That aside, the Craymel Cannon is almost ready to go. We just need to hook up Volt to the cannon and it should be ready to fire. After that, it needs to be mounted somewhere so it can be brought to Balir's Castle."

"We can always mount it onto the Van Eltia." Chat suggested. Keele rubbed his chin.

"I guess that could work..." He said. "...Then we'll mount it onto the Van Eltia..."

"YEAH!" Max said, "Then that means that we can go invade Balir's Castle tomorrow!"

"IF it works and we can get it mounted onto the Van Eltia..." Keele amended. "If it doesn't... Well, then that means that we'll have to wait just a bit longer..."

"Well then..." The Celestian man dropped his right hand hard onto Keele's shoulder. "I put all my faith into you to get it ready to go, Keele."

"I'll do my best..." Keele droned in a low, strained voice while rubbing his sore shoulder. He then departed (still massaging his shoulder) to get back to work on the cannon.

"Max, you really shouldn't be so rough..." Farah scolded. "Poor Keele looked pretty hurt when you cracked him over the shoulder like that..."

"...Well, I'll go apologize to him later, then." Max said, sounding calm for the first time all day. "Anyways, it's almost sundown, so, if you'd like, I can set you guys up with a room at the hotel here."

"That sounds good." Reid said. "I'm getting kinda tired, so I'll head over there."

"Me too." Farah responded in turn. "I could use a good night's sleep. Let's all head over to the hotel and get some rest. We'll see you tomorrow, Max." The Celestian man nodded, and the team departed for the hotel.

* * *

Max had set aside two rooms for the travelers, so they split the rooms up into a boy's room and a girl's room. Just as the guys were about to drift off to slumber-land, a scream from nearby jolted them awake. The scream was then replaced by loud apologizing. A minute later, the door to the guys' room opened up and a red-faced Keele entered the room. Reid and Kyle both burst into laughter.

"Went into the wrong room, Keele?" Reid jeered. Keele's face turned a different shade of red as his embarrassment turned to anger.

"S-shut up, Reid!" He said as he slammed the door behind him. "That goes for you too, Kyle..."

"Same old Keele..." Kyle commented, chuckling. "Wouldn't have it any other way..."

"Give it a rest, you two... I'm trying to read." Keele had sat on a couch in the room and unsheathed a book from under his robes, trying to ignore his two idiotic roommates. Shrugging, the two guys decided to cut Keele some slack and hit the sack. Almost in synchronization, they lay back and started to fall asleep.

---

Once again, Kyle's dream brought him to the same cloudy blue sky as he had seen in his previous encounter with the Darkness. This time, Kyle was on his guard. _Damn... _He thought. _I'm back here again? So the Darkness really HAS found me..._

"Welcome back, Child of Destiny..." The voice from last time was sounding calm and bittersweet again. "Did you miss me?"

"Why are you coming after me?!?" Kyle demanded. "Why are you antagonizing me?!?"

"Antagonizing you?" The voice was trying to play dumb. "My, I haven't done anything wrong to you... Yet..." At that moment, Kyle felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck. He tried to look behind him to see what it was, but he wasn't able to see what was going on.

"What the hell did you do to me?!?" He yelled. "Tell me what's going on!" At that moment, six shadowy figures appeared around Kyle and started to move in around him. The back of his neck started burning white hot. Kyle instinctively put his hand on his neck to try and figure out what was going on, but his skin felt normal to his hand.

"The Darkness will devour you..." The voice once again was sounding evil. "There's nothing in this world that can stop it..." At that moment, there was a white flash and something was standing behind Kyle, glowing brightly. Looking behind him, Kyle only saw a formless white glow. The glowing entity then wrapped part of itself around Kyle, hugging him gently. At the same time, some of its glowing tendrils shot out and stabbed the creatures of Darkness with its light. The creatures vanished upon impact.

"...Dad?" Kyle wondered as he saw the creatures of Darkness disappear. For a split second, Kyle could have sworn that the tendrils of light wrapped around his body had become his father's arms, but as soon as they had appeared, they were gone again, transformed back into formless light tendrils. _Dad... _Kyle thought._ Thank you for saving me... _

"D-damn it! What the hell is going on?!?" The voice of the Darkness was completely flabbergasted. "What the hell is that thing?!? DESTROY IT AND CAPTURE THAT CHILD!" A countless number of Darkness Creatures appeared around Kyle. The sheer number of Darkness creatures scared Kyle a little bit, and he sunk back farther into the embrace of his father's glow.

_You have to wake up..._ A different voice was speaking to Kyle. His father's voice. _You're not safe here... I can only fight off so many of these creatures... But I won't have the will to keep fighting if they capture you. _Kyle nodded and closed his eyes, trying to wake himself up. However, right at that moment, there was a heartwrenching scream as the white glow faded away.

"DAD!!!" Kyle yelled as the Darkness Creatures started closing in on him. "Dad, come back! You said you'd keep fighting them off! Where are you?!? DAD!!!" Just as the creatures had come close enough to grab him, Kyle woke up with a start, gasping again. "Dad..." He said quietly. "Why did Dad disappear like that? Am I really that alone in fighting the Darkness?"

---

"Just when I had found you again, you had to go and pull a stunt like that... Don't you know when to quit?" An angel with dark hair and two slightly blueish wings stood over the battered form of an angel with six wings and long blond hair lying in an unnatural pose on a cloud.

"I-I wasn't gonna let you hurt my son..." The long haired angel's eyes were filled with tears. "Why must you target him?"

"He is the pure-hearted Child of Destiny." The dark haired angel had no happiness in his voice. "His heart is perfect for my ritual. It's your fault for being the father of such a child that you now have to get in the middle of this."

"You want to tear out his heart, don't you? I can't let you... I won't let you..."

"There's nothing you can do in your current state. Besides, you have it all wrong. _I'm_ not going to tear his heart out... So... How am I going to get rid of you permanently so you don't interfere anymore?"

"Heh... You'll have to find my mortal body in order to do that..." At that moment, he changed into a glowing ball of light and plunged through the clouds. The other angel had jumped at the ball of light to stop it, but was too late to grab it in time.

"AILERON!!!" The blue winged angel yelled. "I WILL FIND YOU! YOU CAN'T AVOID ME FOREVER!" However, Stahn had already escaped and was falling back to Celestia.

_Kyle..._ He thought as he plunged through the night sky, having returned to his glowing humanesque form. _We're both in trouble... I just hope you'll find me before he does..._

_---_

Kyle had gone up to the balcony of the hotel after recovering from his nightmare. Surprisingly, he found Reid and Meredy there, as well. As soon as he had stepped onto the balcony, Reid and Meredy had looked around to see him.

"Hey Kyle..." Reid said. "What brings you up here, too?"

"I had a nightmare again..." Kyle said quietly. "I don't know if I can sleep anymore if I keep getting these nightmares about the Darkness..."

"Funny, I had woken up from a nightmare myself." Reid said, looking up at the night sky. "I keep dreaming about things that happened years ago..."

"Meredy is not sleepy." The purple haired Celestian girl said somewhat quietly. "Meredy has been thinking about the upcoming battle with Balir."

"Looks like nobody here can sleep anymore..." Reid chuckled. Turning to Kyle, he continued. "You know, if you keep getting these dreams about the Darkness, that must mean that they're right on your heels..."

"They know where I am..." Kyle's eyes were cloudy with a combination of fear and tiredness. "They tried to capture me tonight... My dad tried to fight them off, but he failed. I'm just lucky to have awakened before getting captured..."

"Geez, you're really having a rough time with this Darkness, aren't you?" Reid walked over to Kyle and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. At that moment, Kyle's neck began to burn again, and he shrunk away from Reid.

"Aagh!" Kyle put his hands on the back of his neck again. "Dammit, I almost forgot that the damned Darkness did something to my neck..."

"It did?" Reid asked. "Lemme take a look." He walked behind Kyle and brushed away the boy's flaxen hair, gasping a second later. "Umm, Kyle... There's something on your neck... I think it's a Melnic letter..."

"What?!?" Kyle exclaimed. "Me too?!? Dammit, they did that to my dad, too!"

"Melnic letter?" Meredy said. She skipped over to where Reid was and took a look for herself. "It is indeed a Melnic letter!" She twirled around. "It is the Melnic letter 'D'."

"'D'?" Kyle repeated in an interrogative tone. _It must stand for "Destiny", as in "The Child of Destiny"... _His eyes were filling up with fear again. Just then, Meredy chirped and pointed above them.

"Look!" She announced. "A shooting star! The three of us can make a wish!" Reid and Kyle both looked up at the sky and saw the shooting star as well. Reid closed his eyes.

"I wish for Kyle's safety and well-being..." He said aloud. "I wish that the Darkness won't devour him..." Kyle looked at Reid and smiled.

"Thank you, Reid..." He said, happy for the first time since he had awoken from the nightmare. _Then I'll wish for victory in our battle against Balir... _Kyle thought as he looked up at the shooting star again._ He gave his wish to me, so I'll give mine to him..._

_

* * *

_**Author's Final Note: **Intense chapter, no? Things are really getting tough for our heroes now. Hopefully, I'll get another chapter up within 3 months so as to end your anticipation towards these events. Also, I have an announcement: it's not quite set in stone yet, but a friend has offered to work with me in turning this fiction into a fan game using RPG Maker XP. Hopefully things will work out, but nothing's promised yet. Stay tuned for updates on the project!


	9. Chapter 24: Union of the Three Swords

**Two Destinies Chapter 24: Union of the Three Swords  
**

**Author's Preface: **Well, whaddya know? It hasn't been 3 months yet (it hasn't even been 3 days yet... XD) and I'm already back to work on another chapter! Hooray for April Vacation! :D So, with this chapter, I hereby am making some pretty big changes with the story line. You'll see for yourself~~~ (hint: the story changes involve a blonde who ISN'T Kyle. (The title is a somewhat of a hint, too) :P) Hopefully I'll be able to expand the character and make him seem a bit more likeable... Or not... Enjoy regardlessly!

* * *

"Okay, everything's good to go!" Keele said, looking smug.

"I'm impressed..." Chat said, staring at her ship. "The cannon goes surprisingly well with the décor of my ship~~~"

"YEAH!" Max laughed heartily. "Now we can go and invade Balir's Castle! I can't wait to beat up Balir!" He drove a punch into the palm of his other hand as he said this. Farah chuckled.

"Well then..." She said. "Let's get going. We have a king to dethrone!" And with that, everybody climbed aboard the Van Eltia and the ship departed not long afterwards.

* * *

"So, where exactly can we FIND Balir's Castle?" Reid inquired. He wasn't the kind of person to usually be pestering Chat while she was sailing, but he really had a desire to know which way the Van Eltia was going.

"Supposedly, Balir's Castle is to the north of here." Chat responded. "I bet we're bound to figure out where it is soon..." Right after she had said that, there was the sound of something hitting the ship, and in response, the Van Eltia started wildly shaking, knocking both Reid and Chat off their feet. Chat recovered first.

"W-what the hell was that?!?" She cried as she hung on tightly to the ship's steering wheel. Looking outside, she saw that there were unidentified vessels in front of her. When she saw that they were shooting at the Van Eltia, Chat's face twisted in rage. "So, you wanna mess with me? I'm gonna make you pay for attacking the Van Eltia! Take this!" There was a new button that Reid had never seen before resting near the wheel, and, after Chat had spewed her threat, she grabbed the button and pressed it. There was the sound of something charging above a second afterward.

"Is that the button for the Craymel Cannon?" Reid inquired. As he asked the question, a bright beam of light shot through the air and collided with one of the antagonizing ships. It exploded on impact.

"Take that!" Chat yelled as she watched the enemy ship's remains burn and start to sink. "There's more where that came from!" Once again, she pressed the button and the Craymel Cannon began to charge once more.

"What's going on?" Reid spun around upon hearing Farah's voice. Not only had she come to see what was going on, but the rest of the team had joined her.

"We're breaking through the blockade!" Chat cried out as another blast from the Craymel Cannon destroyed yet another enemy ship. However, within the next couple seconds, the ship was rocked by another blast to its side. Everybody was knocked off their feet. Once again, Chat was the first to clamor back up.

"Dammit!" She cursed. "Hull integrity is only at about half! We can't take many more of those blasts!"

"Aren't you a little young to be saying things like 'dammit', Chat?" Kyle mused. A Pow Hammer flew through the air and whacked Meredy on the head.

"Not in the mood, Kyle!" She raged. "I'm a little preoccupied!"

"But why did Meredy get hit, Chat?" The purple haired girl asked as she rubbed her head.

"Because she's focusing on the sea battle and not on where she's throwing her Pow Hammers..." Farah said. "That hammer wasn't meant for you, Meredy." The green haired martial artist glared at Kyle, who shrugged in return.

"Hey, I was just saying!" He said. "What did I do wrong?" At that moment, Kyle's neck started aching again. He shrunk back and held his sore neck. "Oww... Not AGAIN..." He muttered in a near illegible manner. "Damned Darkness..." A second later, he yelled. "CHAT! Look to the port side!"

"Huh?" She looked to her left and saw an enemy ship charging its laser in the direction of the Van Eltia. "No you don't!" Chat fired another cannon blast at the ship, which sunk on impact once again. She then smiled at Kyle. "Thanks, Kyle!" She said. "That shot would have probably sunk us if it had hit. You saved us."

"Huh?" Kyle was looking a bit dazed. "How did I save the ship?"

"You pointed out an enemy that was about to fire at us." Farah said. "...The thing is, how the heck did you know it was there when we didn't see it?"

"...I honestly don't remember even saying anything..." Kyle shrugged. Everybody (except Chat, who was still trying to get through the blockade) looked at Kyle like he had five heads.

"How could you forget about something like that?" Reid asked.

"Another layer to the mysteries surrounding you..." Keele said, his hand rubbing his chin. "You really are a strange kid..."

"Guys, could somebody explain what the hell is going on?!?" Kyle was getting mad. "Everybody's calling me weird and I dunno why!"

"All right! Here goes nothing!" Chat yelled, changing the subject. "Everybody, hold onto something!" Just then, the ship started shaking again.

"Did the Van Eltia get hit again?!?" Meredy wondered worriedly.

"Hardly!" Chat said. "Time to put this ship into hyperdrive!" The ship began rocketing forward past the blockading ships. Nobody else besides Chat was expecting the speed of the ship and they all fell onto their backs. The captain looked back to her downed comrades after the hyperdrive had stopped and chuckled. "Hey, I warned you to hang on~~~" She said.

"So, did we lose those ships?" Farah asked as she looked out the window and saw nothing but ocean.

"Sure did." Chat said. "The ride to Balir's Castle should be a lot less bumpy now."

"Is that Balir's Castle over there?" Reid said. The team looked ahead and saw the form of a dark castle in front of them.

"If that's not Balir's Castle, I dunno what it would look like..." Keele said. Chat nodded.

"Very well, full speed ahead to that castle!"

"N-not FULL speed, Chat..." Kyle said. "Let's not go into hyperdrive again..." A Pow Hammer whacked Kyle in the head. He rubbed his head after the impact. "Hey, what was that for?!?"

"That was for earlier~~~" Chat mused. "You made me hurt Meredy, so now we're even~~~"

"...Sorry..." Kyle said. "Geez, you could've just asked me to apologize... Besides, didn't I save the ship?"

"But you don't remember doing it, so that can't count." Chat laughed.

"...Your logic confuses me..."

* * *

The castle that Reid had pointed out was indeed Balir's Castle. Before anybody could stop him, Max leaped off the boat with the other members of Shileska. Before leaving to enter the castle, Max left one parting message.

"Sorry, you guys!" He yelled. "Gotta lead my men against Balir's forces! I'll meet you guys right outside the throne room!" And, after that, Max disappeared into the castle. A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Keele's head.

"Might as well go after him..." He said. "Dunno what kind of trouble he could get into..." Agreeing, the rest of the team stepped off the Van Eltia to go after Max. They stared up at the giant castle looming over them.

"Wow..." Reid said as he was gawking at the castle. "Sure is a lot different than Inferia Castle, isn't it?"

"Indeed..." Farah said. "Unlike Inferia Castle, which gave off a sense of nobility, the only feeling this castle gives off is fear..."

"All right... We should get going if we ever want to catch up with Max..." Kyle said, one hand on his neck. He took a few paces forward, before he was grabbed by Meredy. Kyle looked back at the girl who was holding his hand.

"Is Kyle's neck hurting again?" She asked. Meredy and Kyle locked eyes for a couple seconds before the latter responded.

"It's not exactly hurting..." He said. "Just a little tingly and itchy, that's all..." _Could this feeling be from that mark, though?_ He thought to himself. Meredy smiled.

"All right. Meredy is happy that Kyle is okay." She let go of Kyle's hand. "We should all go in and find Max!" And with that, the team started to make their way to the entrance of the castle.

---

Right before they could enter the building, a voice cried out from behind. "Stop right there!" It said. Everybody turned around. There was an Inferian man with a blue hat and clothes and long yellow hair standing a few meters behind them.

"Ras!" Farah was surprised to see this person again.

"What are you doing here, Ras?" Reid said, a little bit of bitterness in his voice. Ras took a few steps toward the party.

"I came here to fight Balir." He stopped right in front of Reid. "I'm just as surprised as you guys are in finding you here. Let me guess, you're going after Balir as well, correct?"

"Yeah, we're gonna find our friend Max and fight Balir." Kyle said. Ras turned to face Kyle and a look of surprise crossed his face.

"You..." He said. "I don't remember you crossing the Bridge of Light, but you certainly look Inferian..." Kyle averted his gaze and chuckled.

"Eh heh heh..." Kyle rubbed the back of his head. "Well, you see..." Before he knew it, Ras had stepped up right in front of him and was staring at Kyle with his blue eyes.

"...What's your name, young one?" Ras inquired. Kyle was too transfixed to look away from Ras.

"Umm..." Kyle stuttered a little. "M-my name's Kyle Dunamis..."

"So YOU'RE Kyle..." Ras closed his eyes and turned away. "My name is Rassius Luine. You may call me Ras, though." Kyle grabbed Ras' arm.

"Wait, what did you mean by 'you're Kyle'?" He asked. "Do you know me?" Ras turned to face Kyle again.

"Never mind. It's nothing." He stared at Kyle for a few more seconds before muttering "...Something seems off about you... I can't put my finger on it, but something's wrong..." Reid walked up behind Kyle and put his arms on Kyle's shoulders.

"I dunno what your deal is with Kyle..." Reid said. "But we're gonna be heading inside now. See you later."

"Hold on a minute, Reid." Ras said. "Let me go with you. Our goal is the same. Will you allow me to travel with your group one more time?" Reid gave Ras a harsh glare.

"I still don't trust you completely after what you did back at the Bridge of Light..." He said, his gaze transfixed. "However, as you said, our goals are the same, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to have you back on our side again..."

"Just promise that you aren't going to try to stop us this time like you did with us crossing over to Celestia..." Keele said. Ras brushed a lock of hair off of his shoulder.

"I said that our goal is the same." He repeated. "Why would I stop you if I want to defeat Balir as much as you do? Shall we get going, then?"

"I think we can trust him." Farah said. "The more the merrier..."

"Very well." Reid said. "Now, let's get going. Max is waiting for us."

---

The team had walked into the castle gingerly. The castle was in a state of disarray, with rubble and debris scattered everywhere. The team had to step gingerly or they risked getting impaled by a sharp piece of rubble in the foot. To the left and right of the main entrance area, almost identical looking long hallways stretched out of sight. The team debated which way to go.

"If I was Max, which way would I go first?" Keele rubbed his chin.

"Might as well just randomly pick one way to go in that case..." Farah said. "I say we should take the left path."

"Does it really matter either way?" Kyle inquired. At that moment, he noticed Ras giving him a weird look. Their eyes met for a second before Kyle forced his gaze away. _What's Ras' deal with me? _He thought._ What did he mean by "you're Kyle"? Does he know me? Hopefully, I'll get a chance to ask somewhere along the way..._ Following Farah's suggestion, the group started down the left path.

The hallway was far too quiet. Everybody anticipated something jumping out at them every other second. For a while, nothing did. However, at the end of the hallway, Kyle's neck began to bother him again. "Uh oh..." He said. "Something's wrong..."

"What do you mean?" Farah asked, looking back at Kyle.

"Well, thanks to something the Darkness did to me, my neck starts hurting on occassion." Kyle took his hand off of his neck. "Usually it's been hurting whenever trouble's about to occur..."

"That's strange..." Keele said, his hand back on his chin again. "Tell me, was your neck hurting before anytime during the ship ride here?"

"Yeah, it was..." Kyle said. "Why do you ask?"

"So it must be..." Keele's voice dropped to an unintelligible whisper. Kyle was getting irritated.

"It must be what?!?" He asked. "Why won't you tell me?!?" At that moment, something fell down from the ceiling behind Kyle. He turned around quickly to see a Clay Golem standing over him. The Golem reached down and wrapped its hands around Kyle, trapping him in its grasp. "Help!" He yelled. "Get it off of me!" Just then, before Reid could react, Ras had dashed over behind where the enemy was holding Kyle hostage and whipped out his sword.

"Super Lightning Blade!" He stabbed the Golem in the back with the force of a wind sheer and quickly afterwards, a bolt of lightning came down and struck the Clay Golem. In response, the enemy let go of Kyle, who scrambled back over to the relative safety of his friends, and it crumbled a couple seconds later. Walking over to the rest of the party, Ras locked eyes with Kyle. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah..." Kyle smiled. "Thanks, Ras." Reid's face was filled with jealousy. He stepped between Ras and Kyle.

"All right, so you saved the day..." Reid said. "Can we get a move on again?" He turned around, wrapped an arm around Kyle's shoulders and started walking with him.

"Reid, what's wrong?" Farah asked as he walked by her. The ginger said nothing as he passed by. Farah was able to sense his irritated aura as he walked by, though, and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Reid, you can't stay bitter forever... Ras isn't trying to create a rift between you and Kyle, if that's what you're concerned about..."

"I'm not concerned about a rift in our friendship..." He said sourly. "I just don't trust Ras... Not after our last encounter..."

"Mind telling me about what happened?" Kyle asked. "I'd like to know what's up between you and Ras..."

"He tried to stop us from coming to Celestia..." Reid said. "He even fought us because we were going to Celestia with the Inferian Summon Spirits..." Ras cleared his throat behind Reid.

"I hate to interfere here..." He said. "But wasn't there a friend of yours that you needed to reunite with? This idle chatter isn't getting us any closer to Balir..."

"Ras is right." Keele said. "We're not catching up to Max by talking here. Let's keep moving forward." And with that, the party continued on down the corridor.

---

While the team was walking, Kyle struck up a conversation with Ras. "So... Ras... You said something about 'you're Kyle'... I wanna know what that was all about... Do you know me?" Ras nodded.

"Indeed." He said. "When I first saw you, I thought that you were me for a while... You've grown so much since then..." Kyle stopped walking.

"...What is that supposed to mean?" He said. "That makes no sense whatsoever! And how do you know me, but I don't know you?!? From the sounds of it, you're sounding like you've known me for years!"

"No, it hasn't even been a month since I met you..." Ras said. "And yet, I didn't expect to see you that old so soon..." Kyle was terribly confused. Nothing Ras was saying was even remotely making sense. Kyle was sure that he didn't look much older than he did a month ago, so why was Ras saying things like he didn't expect to see Kyle that old so soon? At that moment, the pain in Kyle's neck was getting stronger. _Is Ras really to be trusted? _He wondered. _Or is the pain in my neck trying to tell me something about Ras? Could he be... a minion of the Darkness?_

_

* * *

_

**Author's Final Note: **So... How DOES Ras know Kyle? Well, I'm not about to reveal it right now, but if you look out for my next ToE chapter (since I'm thinking about writing a ToD2 chapter next), more will be revealed. Yeah... So instead of Ras making a last minute "lol, I'm gonna just run in and save you by killing myself", I decided to make him join the party for the entire dungeon... Yeah, his reason is a bit cheesy, but there's actually a deeper motive than "lol, I wanna kill Balir, too" behind it. You shall all see for yourselves~~~ *shot for being cryptic* Anyways, thanks for reading! Now leave me a review! :D *shot again*


	10. Chapter 25: Battle with Balir?

**Two Destinies Chapter 25: The Battle with... Balir?**

**Author's Preface: **Hooray for April Vacation! Three chapters all in the span of a week! :D *cough* Anyways, yeah, I know, I said I was gonna do a ToD2 chapter next, but I have no idea what I should do with that story line right now... _ And thus, you get to read a ToE chapter, instead! Time to kill a character! :D *shot*

* * *

After walking for what seemed to be an endless amount of time, it didn't seem like the team was making much progress through Balir's Castle. Every hallway looked identical to the ones prior, and there were absolutely no hints as to which way they should be heading.

"Great..." Reid complained. "We are completely lost..."

"Not exactly." Ras said. "We've kept ascending floors, so we aren't going around in circles."

"True..." Keele said. "But even I have lost track of the number of floors that we've gone up already..."

"I dunno if it's any indication..." Kyle started, "But the farther we go up, the more my neck bothers me... Something about this place is definitely giving me a bad reaction..."

"Supposedly, Balir has the ability to use the Dark Aurora..." Ras said. "He used it to initiate the Grand Fall. It might be his Aurora that you're sensing... Are you okay, regardless?" Reid shot a dirty glare at Ras. Kyle locked eyes with Ras.

"I'll be okay." He said. "It doesn't hurt THAT bad." Ras smiled.

"Good. At least you're all right." He placed a hand on Kyle's shoulder. "Now, if you ever do get to a point where your neck bothers you so much that you can't take it, just say so. Don't hold back telling us just so you can stay with the group." Kyle nodded slowly. In his nearly boiling jealousy, Reid grabbed Kyle's arm.

"Come on, Kyle... Let's go..." He said bitterly, storming off with the boy in his grasp so briskly that Kyle was stumbling to keep up.

"Slow down, Reid!" Farah said. "You're leaving the rest of us behind!" However, Reid had stopped cold a few paces ahead, and both he and Kyle were gawking at something ahead.

"...This doesn't look good at all..." Reid said as his gaze was transfixed on the sight ahead of them. Before them was the bloody mess of a whole slew of Celestians lying dead. They were all wearing the uniforms of Shileska.

"...Is Max okay?" Kyle wondered aloud as his eyes moved from body to body of the fallen Shileska members.

"Balir looks really strong if he could take out all of these guys..." Farah commented.

"Then we better stay on our guards... Who knows just what kind of terrible power the Dark Aurora is..." Ras said. There was a pensive look on his face.

"We must find Max!" Meredy said with a rare frown on her face. "Meredy hopes that Max is okay!" Keele nodded.

"All right. Let's find Max. If he's dead, then we'll just go on without him..." And with that, the team departed in search of their overenthusiastic Celestian teammate, all hoping that he was still alive.

* * *

The team had traversed down another long hallway, which, unlike the prior hallways, was strewn with the blood of fallen members of Shileska. As they approached the end, they heard a familiar cry.

"BURNING FORCE!" Everybody was relieved to hear this Arte being yelled out. Sure enough, when they turned the corner, there stood Max as well as a few other members of Shileska, firing at an oncoming slew of enemies, which ranged from minotaur-like Stronghorns to zombie-like Hominicles to Clay Golems and everything in between. Before anybody could stop him, Kyle ran to behind Max and held up his hands for a spell.

"BURN STRIKE!" He yelled, letting loose a stream of fireballs to incinerate some of the enemies. Max turned around when he saw the spell. Everybody else had filed in behind Kyle and was standing before Max.

"YEAH! There you are!" He said, smiling. We could really use your help, you guys..." At that moment, he turned around and fired off a round of missiles as he loosed a Magnum Missile Arte. Continuing, he added, "Though I don't think Reid and Farah should get involved in this one..." He said. "If they get close to you, they'll rip your head off..." A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Reid's head.

"Looks like this one's up to Meredy, Keele, and Kyle..." He said, nodding to them. Almost at once, the three of them began casting spells again. Keele was up first.

"Let's put Volt to the test!" He announced. "Take this! Thunder Blade!" A large sword made out of lighting came down between a bunch of enemies and electrocuted them (Author's Note: Yes, this is Thunder Blade from Symphonia and onward, not Eternia's Thunder Blade.), but many more kept filing in.

"Take this!" Meredy said, twirling around. "Blizzard!" A howling stream of ice blew past the enemies, stopping quite a few in their tracks.

"Now it's my turn!" Cried Kyle. "Voltic Heat!" The funnel of air came careening downward, blowing many of the enemies away. Very few enemies were left standing in the wake of the three Mages' Artes. Max smiled.

"Thanks, you three." He said, aiming his gun at the remaining enemies. "Now, let's finish them off! BURNING FORCE!!" Once more, a gigantic fireball ripped through the remainder of the enemies, leaving not one of them still alive. The heroes were victorious! "YEAH!!!" Max said as he thrust his gun into the air in a moment of gloating over the victory.

"So, I'm guessing that you're Max?" Ras said, pushing the brim of his hat out of his face. Max grinned as he walked over to where Ras was standing.

"Yeah!" He said, holding out a hand. "I'm Max, the leader of Shileska and soon to be the next king of Celestia!" Ras took Max's hand and shook it.

"The name's Rassius Luine..." He said. "But you can just call me Ras."

"Very well." Max said. "So, you're an Inferian... Are you an old friend of Reid, Farah, and Keele here?"

"We know each other..." Ras said. "Though I don't know if they consider me their friend..." He looked at Reid especially when he said this, but Farah was the first to speak up.

"I consider you a friend." She said, smiling. Reid shot a dirty glare at Farah.

"I hate to break up this reunion..." Ayla said, appearing behind Max. "But we still have to infiltrate the rest of this castle, and we're not gonna do so without moving in."

"Yeah!" Max said. "Let's get going." And with that, the reunited team moved forward and closer to Balir's throne room.

* * *

Since the team had defeated a large number of enemies in that blockade, the rest of the castle was rather quiet. Few enemies engaged the team, and they were all quickly dispatched.

"Not so tough now, are you, Balir?!?" Max yelled down a hallway. "We'll take you on and kick your ass from here back to Inferia where you belong!"

"Max!" Farah scolded. "There's a twelve year old amongst us who shouldn't be hearing language like that!" Chat glared at Farah.

"Stop treating me like I'm some kind of baby!" She said, pouting. "You don't see any other twelve year old girls commandeering a large pirate vessel, do you?"

"Just because you are a sailor doesn't mean you should talk like one~~~" Reid said, snickering a little. A Pow Hammer bounced off his forehead. "Oww... Not many twelve year olds are good at giving people instant headaches with Pow Hammers, either..."

"Serves you right." Chat said, crossing her arms defiantly. At that moment, the mood was broken as Kyle sank to his knees, clutching at his neck. Almost instantly, Ras was there to help him back to his feet.

"You're holding in the pain, aren't you?" He said. "I asked you to let us know if you were feeling any pain, rather than bottle it up." Kyle sighed.

"I'm sorry..." He said in a rather pained manner. "I just didn't want to get in the way of this fight with Balir just because of my condition..." Ras wrapped his arm around Kyle.

"You won't be getting in the way..." He said. "Your well-being is as much of a concern to us as defeating Balir is." Kyle nodded slowly.

"Thank you..." He said quietly. "But really, defeating Balir should be your first priority... I might be in pain, but I'll be fine."

"Look!" Meredy chirped. "Those double doors!"

"They sure look like what would be the doors to the throne room..." Keele commented, rubbing his chin.

"Let's go see for ourselves." Reid said, taking a step forward. However, Max had run past him quickly and was banging on the door with his gun.

"OPEN THIS DOOR, BALIR!" He yelled. "OR I'LL BUST IT DOWN!" As he said this, he repeatedly kept banging on the door. Everybody else sweatdropped.

"Umm... Max?" Farah said, trying to stop him. However, at that moment, the sound of cracking wood had drowned out whatever it was that Farah was going to say. A couple seconds later, the wood had completely broke and fell apart, revealing the interior.

"Well, I guess we should go in, then..." Reid said, shrugging. "Max opened the door for us, so..." Farah glared at Reid for a second, and then she shrugged.

"Might as well..." She said a bit begrudgingly. The team then invited themselves into the room, prepared to fight Balir.

* * *

The team went down another long, dark corridor slowly. It seemed infinitely longer than the others. However, near the end of it, Kyle stopped.

"Guys, I have a REALLY bad feeling about this..." He said, hands around the back of his neck. "My neck is KILLING me... Balir must be really strong..."

"...Or dead." Farah said, looking ahead. The team quickly filed into the next room, only to see what looked like a zombie sitting on the throne. Meredy took a step forward.

"Ba... lir?" She said, staring at the figure on the throne. Everybody else took a step forward as well. Keele blinked twice before speaking.

"It's a mummy..." He said. "Balir is a mummy?" Meredy shook her head.

"No...!" She said. Everybody was really confused now.

"Does this mean Balir is dead?" Questioned Reid. "If so... who's behind the Grand Fall?"

"Ugh!" Kyle yelped as he once again sunk to his knees. "Damn, there's something still here..." At that moment, there was a quiet chuckling from behind them.

"Balir is dead..." A woman's voice said. Everybody turned to face the woman. She was a well-endowed woman who wore a long purple dress with a magenta headdress. She continued. "Balir died ten years ago... But his soul lives within me..."

"So... I was ten years too late?" Max said, looking a bit disappointed.

_Ten years ago? _Kyle thought. _My dad also died ten years ago..._

"...Shizel?!" Meredy said. The woman whom Meredy had called Shizel sashayed over to the throne where Balir's corpse was sitting. Once over near Balir, she stared at Meredy.

"Oh, so it's you..." She said. "It's been a long time, Meredy..." Everybody looked at Meredy.

"Meredy, do you know her?" Farah asked.

"Who is she?" Reid added. Meredy looked down, then again at Shizel.

"Shizel is..." Meredy stuttered. "Shizel is... Balir's consort..." Keele looked at Shizel, then again at Meredy before speaking.

"Consort?" He repeated. "You mean that Shizel is... Balir's wife?" Farah frowned at Shizel.

"Are you the one who's causing the Grand Fall?!?" She said, ready to throw fists at Shizel at any minute. Shizel chuckled.

"Of course~~~" She said, obviously not trying to hide it. "Could any other?" Ras pulled out his sword.

"You..." He said, pointing it at her. "Why would you do such a thing?!?" Shizel laughed.

"What is the value in a world choking in the miasma of its own sickening desire?" Everybody was surprised by this response.

"...Choking in the misma... of its own sickening desire?" Kyle repeated as if he had no idea what that meant. Shizel continued.

"It was also the dying wish of Balir against all those whose obsession with material possessions took his life." Reid took another step forward.

"That's no reason!" He yelled, also taking out his sword. "We can't just let you destroy Eternia!!!"

"You fool!" Shizel laughed. "It isn't destruction! It's REBIRTH! Balir and I will allow none to stand in our way!"

"Oh really?" Max said, pointing his gun at Shizel. "Then let me do the honors of standing in your way!" He fired a shot a Shizel, who seemed unaffected. A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Reid's neck.

"Max, I think you just instigated a fight..." He said. Shizel laughed again.

"Fool!" She yelled. At that moment, she summoned a bolt of lightning to come down and strike Max. Farah instantaneously ran over to see if he was all right.

"Max!" She said. "Are you all right?!?" Max opened his eyes, seemingly okay but a bit frazzled.

"...Yeah?" He said in a daze. Farah gave a relieved sigh and proceeded to heal him.

"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!" Kyle yelled, preparing a spell.

"Let's do it!" Reid cried. Shizel laughed.

"I can take you all on! You are all mere annoyances! This will be a waste of time!" At that moment, she began to throw lightning every which way at the heroes. Not skipping a beat, they all dodged the lightning as it struck the ground near their feet.

"Let's see you take this!" Kyle yelled, thrusting an arm into the air. "Burn Strike!" The flames fell harmlessly around Shizel, as if she had some kind of magical barrier up. "...It didn't work?" Kyle was flabbergasted. Usually his Burn Strike spell razed everything in the way.

"Fool! Curse your misery!" Shizel fired a bolt of lightning at Kyle, who was struck and fell to his knees with a small cry of agony.

"Kyle!" Farah cried as she ran over to him to heal. "Here, hang on a second..." Kyle stood up onto his feet shakily, rejecting Farah's help.

The two swordsmen danced around Shizel in tandem, striking almost simultaneously with the same Artes. Shizel was unaffected, however. Instead, she blew them away with more of her magic, tossing them in opposite directions.

"You can't stop me!" Shizel showed no signs of fatigue. "I'll flatten you all! Prism Sword!" The spell was aimed right at Keele and Meredy. Two multicolored blades struck the ground around them, disrupting their magic and throwing them to the sides.

"Let's try something new!" Chat cried, pulling out a glowing Pow Hammer from her bag. Once it was removed, it flew into the sky. Chat pointed at Shizel and cried "Miracle Hammer!" The Pow Hammer had come back down ten times larger and supposedly hit Shizel on the head. However, Shizel was hardly stunned by the attack.

"Time for me to try something new as well..." Shizel said, darkness brooding in her voice. "Take this!" A bolt of white lightning came down and struck Chat. After being knocked back a little, Chat cried out.

"Aah!" She said. "I can't move!" Keele turned to her.

"Hold on!" He said, making the usual hand motion he did when casting magic. "I have just the spell for you! Recover!" Upon feeling the effects of Keele's spell, Chat fell over, finally able to move again.

"Thanks..." She said as she stood back up. Once again, she faced Shizel. "Okay, you're gonna pay for that!"

"Ha ha ha!" Shizel was infuriated now. "You all just don't know when to give up, do you?!?"

"We won't give up until you go down!" Max said, firing missile round after missile round to no avail. "I will be the king of Celestia!"

"Don't kid yourself! You already lost!" At that moment, Shizel held a hand up to the air, and a purple void appeared over her head.

"W-what the hell is that?!?" Farah cried.

"This doesn't look good..." Ras commented, bracing himself. Shizel laughed again.

"You will now feel the true power of the Dark Aurora Artes!" She said. "This one's called 'Eternal Finality'~~~"

"I won't let you use that Arte!" Reid said as he started running towards her.

"Too late!" She yelled. At that moment, she held up both of her arms towards the void and began chanting. "Gates to the Eternal Void, show your passage!" A large energy sword appeared from the void. "Partake in my baptism of darkness!" The giant sword then plunged into the ground, unleashing a large amount of dark energy upon the party. Everybody was knocked over by the attack, and none of them could fully get up afterward.

"Dammit..." Reid said, voice full of pain. "She's gonna kill us..."

"The Darkness is so strong..." Kyle said, his neck aching more than the rest of his body. "And it really IS going to devour me... Damn..."

"Heh heh heh heh..." Shizel was once again laughing as she saw the heroes unable to move. "I did not wish to waste my true power on the likes of you... but you give me no choice..."

"This is it, guys..." Keele said. "We're finished..."

"No, we're not..." Ras said as he struggled to his feet. "Not if I have anything to say about it..." He ran between Shizel and the downed heroes and put up his arms. "Everybody, find the strength to get out of here! Run! You mustn't stay here!"

"Meredy cannot move..." Meredy said slowly.

"None of us can..." Chat groaned. "Ugh... I would if I could, but..."

"Heh heh heh... It's too late for any of you to run..." Shizel said, pointing at Ras. "Time for you all to vanish into Vatenkeist! Face the baptism of the Aurora!" Shizel's body started to crackle with lightning, but Ras stood firm on his feet.

"Aurora Wall!" He yelled as his body began to glow with many different colors. However, he was badly hurt, and the Aurora was fading fast. "Damn..." He grunted. "I don't have enough strength left... Ngh?!?" At that moment, the Aurora was glowing even brighter than before. A second later, a bright formless white glow appeared behind Ras. Everybody looked away from the brightness except Kyle.

"...Dad?" He wondered aloud. This was the same glow that had saved him from the Darkness once before. The glow then transformed into a shining six-winged angel with long flowing hair and golden-trimmed armor for a second.

_I will always protect you from the Darkness..._ The voice of Stahn Aileron echoed within Kyle's mind. Kyle found the strength to rise to his feet again.

"Dad!" He said. "Thank you!" At that moment, the power that Shizel had been building up exploded outward, knocking everybody cleanly away. Before Kyle completely lost consciousness, he heard the screams of multiple voices. There was the cry of agony from Ras, and another cry he couldn't quite make out, but it was higher pitched. After hearing those cries, the world became quiet.

* * *

Reid was the first to recover. Totally in disbelief, he pinched himself to see if he was awake. "Am I... alive?" He wondered. Looking around, he saw the battered bodies of Meredy, Keele, Chat, Max, and Kyle lying what seemed to be lifelessly on the ground. "Hey!" He yelled as he stood up. "Is everybody all right?!?" Meredy was the next to awaken.

"I'm alive..." She said in amazement as she returned to her feet. "I wonder why..." Keele stirred next.

"I'm okay, too..." He said as he walked over to where Reid and Meredy were standing. Chat and Max awoke and stood up as well. The only one who hadn't moved was Kyle.

"Kyle?!?" Reid ran over to the young blonde's body and started to shake him. He wasn't waking up that easily. "Kyle, Kyle! No...!" He was afraid that Kyle had been killed. He was the only one standing besides Ras and had taken the full force of the blow. However, a small laugh came from Kyle's body.

"Dad..." He said. "My dad saved us... He gave Ras the power to protect us with that Aurora Arte..." Reid sighed. Kyle looked up at Reid. "Hey, Reid... What's wrong?"

"...What do you mean... 'what's wrong'?" He said, smiling as Kyle rose to his feet once again.

"Where's Farah?" Meredy noted.

"And what about Ras?" Chat added.

"Ras? Farah?" Reid looked around for the two of them, but the first thing he saw was Ras' battered body lying on the ground somewhat far away. "Ras!" The team ran over to where he was lying. His hat had been blown off during the Arte. "Ras!!" Reid bent over the fallen swordsman. He was weak, but still alive.

"Reid..." He said weakly. "I just remembered... There's something... I needed to give you..." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a tapered blue and gold device and handed it to Reid.

"W-what is this?" Reid asked, holding the object in his hand. Looking at it closer, he recognized the object. "..Is this... the Seyfert Key?"

"Indeed..." Ras said, sighing weakly.

"Ras..." Kyle too bent over Ras. "My father recognized you as a good person... At one point, I had thought you were a minion of the Darkness, but that couldn't be any farther from the truth..."

"Kyle..." Ras looked at the younger blonde standing over him. "The Key that Reid now has... It lead me to the First Trial of Seyfert... That's where I met you..." Kyle was confused.

"W-what do you mean?" He said, locking eyes with Ras. The older blonde chuckled.

"During the Trial, I took on the form of your Celestian friend Loni..." Kyle gasped.

"...Loni?" He said. "You know Loni, too?!?"

"Indeed. For a short time, I was him..." Ras was getting weaker. "My task was to protect you... But it wasn't you as you currently are... You were only five years old during the Trial... You looked so much like me, that I thought you WERE a younger version of me... That is, until I realized how different than me you were... Loni was Celestian, but you wanted to be best friends with him. I would have shied away from Loni because he was different... But you weren't like that... To think that I finally got to meet you outside of the Trial... You're just as pure and innocent as you were back when you were five..."

"Ras..." Kyle said, looking like he was about to cry. "So THAT's what you meant when you said all those things to me... That's why you went out of your way to protect me... I understand now..."

"Reid..." Ras turned to face Reid again. He reached a hand up and took the hand that Reid wasn't holding onto the Seyfert Key with. The two of them began to glow rainbow colors, but Reid wasn't feeling pain, unlike when this event occurred between him and Meredy.

"...This light..." He said. "...What is it?"

"It is the Divine Aurora..." Ras explained. "You and I both have the ability to use the Divine Aurora..."

"But what is the Divine Aurora?" Reid asked. "What does it have to do with me?" At this point, Ras' skin was starting to lose its color. He took a deep breath.

"Meet with Galenos..." He said. "He will tell you the rest..." Reid stared at Ras, who chuckled weakly. "I guess... this is the end for me..."

"Ras!" Kyle yelled. "Ras, no!"

"Reid..." He said. "Protect those you love. Aurora Artes exist for that purpose..." After saying this, Ras' grip went weak in Reid's hand.

"Ras!" Reid, Keele, and Meredy all said the same thing one right after the other. Kyle buried his face into the palms of his hands and began to cry. The others started crying as well. Reid stood up and wiped away the tears from his face.

"...Ras..." He said. "I will... I'll protect the people I love..." He turned to look at the Van Eltia. "...We need to return to Galenos... Come on, you guys..." Almost everybody rallied behind Reid and was ready to return to the Van Eltia. Everybody except Kyle. He was still slouched over Ras, not having moved at all. Reid walked over to Kyle. "Come on, Kyle... Let's go..."

"You never cared about him, did you?" Kyle's voice was full of anger. "You just want to get away from him so you'll forget him faster..."

"Kyle, that's hardly the case... Please, let's go..." Reid put a hand on Kyle's shoulder. Almost instantly, Kyle yelped and shrank away from Reid. The blonde glared at Reid, tears still stuck in his eyes.

"You..." He said. "YOU're the one my neck was reacting to... I can't believe my doubts with Ras prevented me from seeing the truth!"

"Kyle?"

"I can't believe you! How could you be so heartless?!? Ras gave his life to protect us, and all you wanna do is go following that stupid thing he gave you! No wonder my dad picked Ras over you! I hate you!" After that, Kyle ran off toward the Van Eltia.

"Kyle!" Reid yelled, but Kyle never looked back. "'I hate you'... Did he really mean that?" Reid felt doubly hurt. First Ras had died, and then Kyle had said such harsh things to him. "Kyle... You don't understand... I promised you that I'd protect you from the Darkness... I'd never hurt you on purpose..."

"I hate to change the topic..." Keele said. "But where's Farah? I don't see her anywhere..."

"Is Farah dead, too?" Meredy said, looking like she was about to burst into tears again. At that moment, a glowing white figure touched down where the party had first found themselves after being blown out of Balir's Castle and seemed to pick something up off of the ground. Reid ran over to the figure and tried to look past the brightness.

"...Are you... Kyle's father?" Reid asked. The figure said nothing, but held out a glowing white tendril. "...Is there something you want to give me?" The figure silently opened to reveal a red ribbon in its grasp. Reid gasped. "Farah!" He said. He looked at the figure. "Kyle's father, is Farah okay?!?" Another glowing white tendril reached up at an angle towards the sky. "...Is she on Inferia?" The tendril shook as if saying no. "...So, she's somewhere else?" The white arm fell gently upon Reid's shoulder. "So, she IS somewhere else... Is she okay?" The glowing figure shrugged briskly. "...I hope Farah's okay..."

* * *

**Author's Final Note: **Now this chapter was a real shocker... Farah's gone, Kyle's mad at Reid, and Ras is dead... What else can go wrong?!? MUCH more! :D *shot* Stay tuned for another update, which (this time for sure!) will be a ToD2 chapter! In the meantime... Reviews, please? *makes puppy dog eyes*


	11. Chapter 26: Intertwined Destinies

**Two Destinies Chapter 26: Intertwined Destinies**

**Author's Preface: **Well, I hate to keep people glued to their seats waiting for an update about the issues going on with the Eternia crew right now, but I feel it's necessary to have this chapter thrown in first. So... Guess what? This story turns a year older on June 6! I'm so happy that I've pursued this project for so long~~~ I hope I can continue it into college (Yes, I'm heading off to college pretty soon, even though it's 5 minutes away from my high school, which is only 10 minutes away from my house as it is... XD) Anyways, enjoy this story while I'm still writing. Who knows what fate may befall this when I start college? Right, enough rambling, read on!

By the way, this chapter **CONTAINS TALES OF DESTINY 2 SPOILERS**! If you don't want to be spoiled, then don't read this!

* * *

_Farah had found herself surrounded by clouds once she had recovered after fainting due to the force of the Dark Aurora that Shizel had used against her and her friends. At first, she thought she was in heaven and had just died, but there was a surreal yet mortal feel about this place that gave her the feeling that this was all just a dream._

"_Farah..." A calm and soothing male voice called out to her. "F__arah, come..." She instantly felt obligated to find the owner of the voice who was calling out to her. She gingerly took one step onto the fluffy clouds, and then another once she realized she wouldn't fall through, and then, more confidently, began her journey across the clouds to search for the one who was calling her._

_After following the repeated calls for the voice for a long time, Farah finally found a bright shining figure in the middle of the clouds. Once more, the voice called out again, and Farah was sure that this is what she had been looking for. Curiously, she took another step forward, and the glow instantly became stronger - too strong for her to look at. When the blinding glow faded away, Farah looked back and gasped. Instead of the shapeless glowing light that had been there prior, there stood a man with long golden hair, sapphire eyes, and white armor trimmed with gold. His face looked familiar, but more weathered than Farah remembered seeing. Her eyes were not focused on the man's face, however, but to his six shining white wings that fluttered on their own lightly, keeping the man slightly above the ground. Farah stared at this man for another second before speaking._

"_Y-you're..." She paused slightly in awe. The angelic man smiled. Blinking once, she continued, "Y__ou're Kyle's father... aren't you?"_

"_Indeed I am..." The angel said, smiling even more. His warm smile highly reminded Farah of Kyle and could easily see the family relation between this man and her friend. It was almost as if this man was Kyle with an extra twenty or so years of facial weathering added to his appearance. He continued, "M__y name is Stahn Aileron... I've been protecting Kyle as much as I could from before he was even born until now, but now there are forces that antagonize the two of us and threaten to tear us apart..."_

"_The Darkness..." Farah said softly. Stahn nodded, the smile having faded from his face, which was now heavy with seriousness. _

"_That is correct..." He said. His voice no longer held the airiness that she had heard when he had been beckoning to her. "A__nd it's being perpetrated by a dark-hearted angel... One whom I had once placed my trust within..." These words rolled bitterly off Stahn's tongue, as if he regretted having once trusted the person he was speaking about. His eyes were also focused downward in his state of self-regret. "I __don't know his true intentions, but he has made it clear to me that he's trying to tear out Kyle's heart for whatever reason..." Farah gasped, causing Stahn to look up again._

"_Tear his heart out?!? Why?" Stahn shook his head and looked away once more._

"_Like I said, I don't know... It's probably something ill-intended and truly evil, though..." He then gave a forlorn sigh. "B__ut the fact that you're here means that there's one less person to protect Kyle if my protection should ever completely fail... A higher chance that _he _might succeed if he__ ever decides to directly attack... And Kyle needs as much protection as possible..."_

At that moment, Farah woke up for real. The last phrase that Stahn had revealed to her was lingering in her mind and made her worried. What did he mean by 'you're here'? Was he saying that if Kyle was killed by the Darkness that she would be to blame? At that moment, just as she was about to go into a state of self-pity, she looked up and gasped at the sky. Instead of the dark gray sky of Celestia, she was staring up at a nearly-cloudless azure sky.

"No..." She said as she continued to stare up at the sky. "This is... Inferia..." This is probably what Stahn had meant by 'you're here'. How did she wind up back on Inferia? She stood up slowly as the initial shock wore off slowly and decided that she'd try to find out where she was first and foremost, and then afterwards try and head back towards Rasheans once she got her bearings back. Right now, Farah was in some kind of forest (and she REALLY hoped it wasn't the Forest of Temptation... That was a big headache the FIRST time around!) and she wondered as to which way she should go.

At that moment, Farah heard the sound of light footfall upon leaves coming from her left. Upon turning, she saw somebody else creeping through the woods. It was a man with dark skin and silver hair. He was facing away from Farah and making a conspicuous effort to tiptoe about by making exaggerated movements. _There's ANOTHER Celestian in Inferia?_ She said to herself. Farah jested in her mind that Meredy had started a chain reaction and every Celestian was going to migrate to Inferia now. Nodding once for nobody to see, Farah walked over to try and talk to the Celestian man.

Farah had quickly come up behind the man, who was still unaware of her presence. Quickly combing her memory, Farah tried to think of a good way to greet this man. She quickly decided a simple hello in Melnics would suffice (plus, it was one of the few Melnics words she knew from being around Meredy). "Anruri!" She greeted. The man yelped and jumped out of his skin.

"I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T STEAL THAT BOLOG..." He yelled in English as he turned to face Farah. The man then just stood and stared at Farah for another second before he resumed speaking. "W-wait a sec! Y-you're not Nanaly!" He said as he pointed at Farah, his face turning red. Farah was giving the man a surprised look. She was not expecting this man to be speaking English.

"You speak English?" She asked. The man blinked once, then erupted into raucous laughter.

"Of course I do!" He said after his laughter subsided. "What other language do you THINK I'd be able to speak? Japanese?!?" Farah's face furrowed with confusion.

"Well, I'd have thought that you'd speak Melnics like other Celestians..." At that moment, Farah remembered that she was wearing her Orz Earring... Or was she? Touching her ear casually, however, made her realize that the earring was gone. This "Celestian" man WAS speaking English!

"...Melnics?" He said. "I've never heard of any such language in my life... And what did you call me? A Celestian? What's THAT supposed to mean?" Farah shook her head.

"Never mind..." She held out a hand. "I'm Farah Oersted." The man smiled and grabbed her hand to shake it.

"Loni Dunamis." He said, still holding Farah's hand. Farah gasped at the man's name.

"...Dunamis?" She said. "You're not related to Kyle Dunamis, are you?" It was Loni's turn to gasp.

"You know Kyle?!?" He said, looking like he was ready to shake Farah like a leaf. "He's my best friend! Do you know where he is?!?" Farah nodded. Loni was so overjoyed at this response.

"He's on Celestia right now." Loni's smile quickly transmogrified into a confused frown.

"...Celestia?" He repeated in an interrogative tone. "Where the hell is that?" Farah looked up.

"It's on the other side of the Or..." At that moment, Farah's voice drifted off into oblivion as she saw that there was no Orbus Barrier in the sky. That's when it finally hit Farah: this wasn't Inferia, but, rather, it was Kyle's homeworld. The similarities to Inferia were remarkable, though. Loni finally spoke up again.

"Other side of the Or?" He said. "...I don't follow..." Farah shook her head.

"It's really far away..." She said, looking away from Loni. The man wanted to continue pressing Farah for answers about where his best friend was, but at that moment, a voice rang out from nearby.

"Loni!" The third person yelled. "Where the hell are you?" Loni grabbed Farah's hand.

"Hey, come with me to meet my friends!" He said. After saying this, before listening to see if Farah had any objections, he ran off with Farah in tow.

* * *

A minute later, Farah saw a woman with two long hot pink pigtails, another woman with short and sparkly hair that was a lighter pink color than the other woman's hair, and a dark haired man with a skull on his face. The first of the two women was staring at Loni and Farah with her hands on her hips.

"Great..." She said. "We ask you to find lunch, and, instead, you find a woman? Set your priorities straight, Loni..." Loni shook his head vigorously.

"You don't understand!" He said. "This woman knows where Kyle is!" The man with the skull mask sighed.

"Just when you had stopped whining continuously about Kyle, this woman comes and starts up the whining again..." Loni's face turned pink.

"S-shut up, Judas!" Exhaling frustratedly, he changed the subject. "Anyways... Guys, this is Farah Oersted." She waved. The girl with pigtails stared bitterly. "Farah, these guys are Nanaly Fletch with the pigtails..." Nanaly harrumphed and turned her head away. "...Harold Berselius with the sparkly hair..." Harold waved innocently. "...and Judas with the mask." Judas was facing in the opposite direction. Farah felt uncomfortable with the greetings that Loni's friends had given her.

"...I can see I'm not welcome..." She said, looking down. Harold walked up to Farah and grabbed her hand.

"Nonsense!" The genius scientist said while smiling creepily. "I could always make good use of you~~~" Farah snatched her hand back from Harold.

"Erm, well..." It was nice to meet you guys...She said as she awkwardly curtsied. "See you..." Farah turned to leave, but Loni stopped her.

"Please, excuse my friends... They're really nice when you get to know them, but..." Farah kept walking. "...You're not going to stop, are you?" Without speaking, Farah kept walking past him back into the woods. "But what about the monsters in the woods?!?"

"I'll be fine..." She said. "No problem~~~" Farah continued even deeper into the woods, much to Loni's discontent.

"...You're not going in after her, are you, Loni?" Nanaly said as she stepped up next to him. Loni sighed.

"I have to..." He said. "She's the only clue as to where Kyle is..." After saying that he ran in after Farah, slipping out of Nanaly's grasp.

* * *

Farah had been blindly fumbling through the woods for some time - five minutes? an hour? longer? - she had no clue how long. All that she was thinking about was that she was stuck on Kyle's world and had been rejected by most of Kyle's friends. She wanted to be back on Eternia so badly. At that moment, Farah rammed into something soft and bounced off of it, falling onto her butt. As the object turned around, Farah realized that the fuzzy thing was... "An Eggbear!" She cried. The Eggbear, now enraged, threw its claws toward Farah. She quickly rose back to her feet and out of harm's way. As quickly as she had risen, she had closed in upon the Eggbear, throwing punches and kicks at it.

"Swallow Dance!" She spin-kicked the bear upward repeatedly and then flipped over in preparation for the next move: "Eagle Dive!" She drove a hard kick downward and jumped back as the bear nosedived into the ground. However, the bear recovered surprisingly fast and then tackled Farah while she was in a daze, plucking her off the ground and giving her a deadly bear "hug". As she struggled in vain to escape the grasp of the Eggbear, she thought she was going to be squeezed to oblivion. At that moment, a familiar voice called out.

"Negative Gate!" The spell opened up above the Eggbear and lifted the confused animal off its feet, which subsequently dropped Farah in a daze. As the bear rose higher, it got battered by the spell's dark energy. Just as the spell subsided, another cry rang out. "Cyclone Shot!" The bear was hit mid-fall by something blue and white and got knocked away, landing a few meters away on its back. A second later, a familiar person landed in front of Farah, holding a poleaxe in his hands.

"Loni!" Farah said as she stared at the dark-skinned man's backside. Loni turned around upon being addressed.

"Farah, are you okay?" She nodded. "Can you still fight?" Farah stood up and held out her fists.

"I sure can! Oh, and thanks, Loni..." After getting a nod of acknowledgement from Loni, she saw that the Eggbear was standing up to fight once more. It charged at Farah and Loni, only to stop a second later and let out a loud roar. Loni looked at Farah, who looked as confused as him. Looking again, Farah saw something.

"Hey, there's an arrow in the bear's shoulder!" Loni gasped and turned around.

"Nanaly!" He cried. Sure enough, a few meters behind him and Farah stood Nanaly with her bow drawn.

"Did you miss me?" The hot pink haired archer mused while giving a wink. "Let's do this!" Just then, she thrust her hand into the ground and a red dragon of fire rose from where her hand had hit. The dragon looped around to Nanaly's now-drawn bow. "Wyrm Shot!" She cried as she let the shot loose upon the Eggbear. The creature roared in pain upon being hit. At that moment, Loni and Farah nodded, and then they simultaneously ran at the enemy.

"Triple Blossom!" Farah cried as she kicked the Eggbear three times in succession. Loni quickly followed her up with an attack of his own.

"Frost Javelin(1)!" Loni yelled as he jumped up into the air and rained a bunch of icicles down onto the Eggbear. Nanaly smiled as she saw the bear cringing from that last attack.

"Now it's my turn!" She said as she held up a hand to the air. A red glow appeared over the Eggbear and pulsated once, making the bear flinch. Nanaly pulled back on her bow as burning energy flowed around it. "Feel the burning wrath of my bow! Wild Geese!" She let the stored energy loose and fired a bunch of magical arrows of fire at the Eggbear. After being hit by Nanaly's Mystic Arte, the Eggbear fell over and refused to get up.

"We did it!" Farah said, thrusting a fist up into the air. "No problem!" After this celebration of victory, Nanaly walked over to Farah and Loni, smiling.

"I'd like to apologize, Farah..." She said. "I think I was just letting jealousy get to me..." Loni brushed against Nanaly's shoulder as she said this.

"Aww, you know that you're the only one for me, Nana~~~" He said, getting snuggly with her. A vein pulsated on Nanaly's head, and then she grabbed Loni and placed him in a headlock.

"Actually, you know what?" Nanaly said, smiling innocently while Loni struggled in vain to escape the archer's grasp. "You can have Loni..." At that moment, in one swift motion, Nanaly spun him around quickly and applied a lot of pressure to his back, which was followed by a snapping sound and loud, agonized scream. Afterwards, Nanaly threw the battered Loni down in front of Farah. "...You can have both pieces of him~~~" She said, chuckling a little under her breath. A bead of sweat ran down Farah's face.

"...Okay then..." She said, not knowing what to do. Wanting to change the subject, she added, "So... We're friends now, right Nanaly?" Farah held out a hand for Nanaly to shake. The archer smiled.

"Yeah... We are..." Nanaly took Farah's hand and firmly shook it. The two of them then walked together and started to chat about stuff.

A few strides away, Farah said, "Y'know... I think we forgot something..."

"Nah..." Nanaly responded. "Everything's a-okay." As the ladies walked away, Loni still lay battered on the ground back where Nanaly had dropped him.

"...Girls?" He said. "A little help here? You can't forget about little ol' me, can you? Help?!? Come back here! HELP!"

* * *

Back at the campsite that Loni and Nanaly had departed from, Judas was sitting alone on a log. It didn't matter to him that everybody (including Harold, who seemed to have just randomly wandered off on her own) had abandoned him. After looking around shiftily, he withdrew something from a hidden place. Seconds later, he was staring at a slightly curved silver sword whose grip he held in his left hand and whose blade was resting on his lap. The masked swordsman smiled, and the sound of yawning filled the air.

_Good morning, Bocchan~~~ _A voice echoed through the air. Judas closed his eyes, still smiling.

"It's hardly morning, Chaltier..." He said without any trace of bitterness on his voice.

_Aww, man!_ Chaltier said. _I slept in again?!? One of these days, I'd like to get back on a regimented sleeping pattern again, Bocchan... _Judas made a sound that was a cross between a grunt and a chuckle.

"Fine..." He said. "I promise... One of these days, Chal, one of these days..." Judas lightly placed his other hand on the sword's blade.

_...Bocchan? _Chaltier sounded a little worried now. Judas frowned.

"...What is it, Chal?" He said. Unbeknownst to Judas, Harold was standing right behind him.

"Well, hello again, Chaltier!" Harold said loudly. Judas nearly dropped Chaltier as he practically jumped out of his skin. After recovering, Judas turned around with a scowl on his face.

"Harold!" He yelled, now hot in the face. "What are YOU doing here?!? I thought you had run off after everybody else!" Harold laughed.

"Actually, I thought I had seen a rare animal and I went to look for it, but, after losing all signs of it, I came back!" Harold chuckled before continuing. "...I came back in time to find you cuddling one of the Swordians that _**I **_invented!"

"...I was NOT cuddling Chaltier..." Judas said darkly and with a fierce venom in his eyes.

_Oh, Harold-san! _Chaltier said. _Long time, no see! _Harold smiled.

"Indeed~~~" She said. "It's been about... a thousand years, hasn't it?" After saying this, Harold chuckled a little. "Well, who would have thought that Judas here was capable of being a Swordian Master?"

_Oh, but Bocchan's not just ANY Swordian Master~~~ _The Swordian's voice was glowing with pride. _He's the best Swordian Master EVER!_

"...Quite..." Harold said. "Anyways, why didn't you tell me that you had one of my Swordians, Judas?" Judas sighed.

"...I don't want ANYBODY to know about Chaltier..." He said. "Not after what he's come to represent..."

"Oh?" Harold said, moving in closer to Judas. At that moment, Harold was face to face with the tip of Swordian Chaltier's blade.

"If you tell anybody that I have Chal, you'll lose your head faster than you can say 'eureka'!" He threatened. "At the same time, you better swear not to tell anybody that I have him!" Harold straightened up and looked at Judas.

"Fine~~~" She said. "But in return, you're gonna have to repay the deed somehow~~~" At that moment, Harold's focus turned to behind Judas. "Oh, and you might want to put your Swordian away right now if you don't want to reveal anything yourself~~~" Judas quickly turned around and saw that Loni, Farah, and Nanaly were on their way back to camp.

"...Sorry, Chal, but it's time to go again..." He said somewhat bitterly as he put the Swordian back in its safe, hidden spot. After it was safely put away, he looked up at Harold, who winked at him.

A minute later, the team was reunited and they were all discussing what to do next on their journey...

* * *

**Author's Final Note:** Yay, this hassle is FINALLY over! This chapter was practically destroyed by missing words and punctuation and added-in Japanese Kanji when I first uploaded this document to this site, but I fixed it all! So, how's the Destiny 2 crew going to make out with their newest member? What's the Eternia crew going to do without Farah? Find out... NEXT TIME! -shot- Please review! I want to hear your lovely opinions! :3=

* * *

And now for a footnote:

(1): Frost Javelin = Muhyoushou. This fanslation was thought up by yours truly (with a small edit from a friend)! :D


	12. Chapter 27: Friendship Under Fire

**Two Destinies Chapter 27: Friendship Under Fire**

**Author's Preface: **Happy birthday to Two Destinies! One year ago on the sixth, I put up the prologue of Two Destinies. A year later, I'm still coming up with stuff for this story (though I had a bit of a creativity snafu recently... Sorry!). So, anyways, to celebrate the birthday of this story (and my graduation from high school!), here's a new chapter! ^^

**

* * *

**_"Key of Seyfert, show me the path to your bidding!"_

After the team had received more information from Galenos as per the request of Ras' dying words, the team had decided that pursuing the three Trials of Seyfert would be the best thing to do to stop Shizel from using her Dark Aurora to destroy Eternia. The Seyfert Key had lead the heroes across Celestia back to Peruti. At least, this time, the port wasn't covered in a thick blanket of ice. When the Van Eltia had neared Peruti's port, everybody was getting ready to depart - everybody except Kyle. The blonde teenager, still pretty angsty after Ras' death, saw where the team was heading and his bad mood had instantly soured even more. He locked himself in his room the minute Peruti was in sight. Reid had become concerned about Kyle, even though he knew that Kyle would refuse to tell him anything if he inquired. Ever since Ras' death, Kyle had been avoiding Reid, thinking that he was conspiring with the Darkness to try and kill him or something like that. More than once, Reid had tried to talk to Kyle and convince him that he wasn't affiliated with the Darkness, but Kyle refused to listen to reason. Reid was afraid that his once-close friendship with the younger swordsman was dissolving for no good reason. Solemnly, Reid went to Meredy for help, seeing that the person he usually went to, Farah, was missing.

"Reid wants Meredy's help?" The purple haired girl said as Reid had started to explain what he wanted from her.

"Yeah." He said. "I want to know what's up with Kyle. I would really like to stay friends with him, but he refuses to talk to me... I think it's more than just this Darkness thing that's making him avoid me..." He paused slightly before continuing. "Maybe he'll talk to you..."

"You bet!" She said, thrusting a hand into the air. "Meredy will go talk to Kyle now!" At that moment, she turned around and skipped away. Reid smiled a little upon seeing this.

A minute later, Meredy was outside Kyle's room. She tried to open the door, but she found it locked. Unabashed, Meredy knocked on the door. A muffled noise came from inside. Meredy couldn't make out what was trying to be said. "Meredy cannot understand!" She said.

"WHAT?" The voice in the room spoke louder, clearer, and angrier this time. Meredy blinked once, then continued.

"Meredy would like to talk to Kyle!" She said, still cheery. There was illegible grunt from within the room.

"Go away, Meredy!" Came a second later. Meredy, however, was too determined to talk to Kyle to give up that easily.

"Meredy wants to know why Kyle is upset..." She said. At that moment, the door violently swung inwards to reveal a very pissed looking Kyle standing in the doorway. However, his eyes were also looking a bit puffy, as if he had been crying at some point.

"Do you remember what happened the last time we were in this city?" He said in a low voice. Meredy paused for a second before answering.

"...Oh! Meredy remembers! We fought Celsius and stopped the snow!" She said. Kyle's face twisted in rage even more than it had been before.

"AFTER THAT!" He yelled loudly, causing Meredy to flinch. There was no sign of an apology as he continued. "Do you remember what happened AFTER that?" Meredy looked away from Kyle.

"That's right..." She said. "Barbatos took Reala from Kyle in Peruti..." Kyle's face transformed from anger to sorrow as he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Yeah, that's right..." He said softly. "It was near this place where Reala had just barely slipped out of my grasp..." He slowly brought his left hand up to eye level and stared at it for a second before gently clenching it into a fist.

"So... Kyle's not angry at Reid?" She asked. However, this question had caused Kyle's anger to reemerge.

"HE told you to talk to me, didn't he?" He raged. Meredy shook her head.

"Meredy wanted to know what was wrong, too!" Kyle turned away from Meredy.

"I made it clear that I didn't want to talk to him!" Kyle took a step into his room, but Meredy grabbed his arm before he could go any farther.

"Meredy wants to know why Kyle is mad at Reid!" She said. "Kyle and Reid are friends! Kyle should not be mad at Reid!" Kyle snatched his arm back from Meredy.

"I trusted him!" Kyle said angrily. "I thought Reid would always be there for me... But then, when he touched me back at Balir's Castle, I had a reaction to him. The mark on my neck only reacts to the Darkness! I can't believe that Reid would betray me like that!" Meredy shook her head.

"But what if the mark is trying to say something else?" She said as she grabbed Kyle's hand. However, this time, Kyle snatched his hand back nearly instantly, yelped as if he was in pain, and jumped backwards, throwing both of his hands onto his neck.

"Sunnuva... That hurt more than when Reid had touched me..." He whispered audibly. Meredy stared at him for a second, and, when their gazes met, Kyle exploded. "Y-you too?" He said, pointing at her. "How dare you ALSO join the Darkness!" Meredy shook her head vigorously.

"Meredy is not with the Darkness!" She implored. "Meredy is loyal to Kyle! Meredy wants to protect Kyle! Same goes for Reid!"

"S-shut up!" He said, slamming the door in Meredy's face. From the other side of the door, he yelled, "I can't believe that all my friends are betraying me like this!" It was quickly followed up with the sound of something metallic hitting a wall from within. Meredy lingered outside the room for a moment, looking down at her hands.

"...Meredy knows that Meredy does not support the Darkness..." She said quietly. "...There MUST be another reason why Kyle reacted to Meredy... But what?" She took another look at the door, behind which the noise of squeaky springs from a bed emanated, and then she left, looking back once before she was out of sight of the room.  
~~~

"All right, let's go look for clues to what the Seyfert Key is pointing us toward!" Reid said, clutching the key in his left hand.

"I presume Kyle isn't going to join us, seeing as this was the place where he lost Reala, correct?" Keele thought aloud. Meredy nodded.

"Kyle was upset when Kyle saw that we were coming to Peruti..." She said in a slightly less joyous tone than usual. However, a noise from behind caused everybody to look back and, much to their surprise, there stood a very unsteady and angry looking Kyle.

"I'm going, too." He said with a touch of tension behind his relatively normal tone. "I'm not going to be left here alone in case the Darkness attacks. I can't fight off the Darkness alone... Not without the Sword of Destiny..." He sighed before continuing. "As bitter as I am about going back to Peruti and about being around those traitors..." Kyle threw a nasty glance towards Reid and Meredy. "...I know better to go with them rather than be alone and completely vulnerable..."

"Kyle..." Reid took a few steps in Kyle's direction. "I promised you that I'd protect you... No matter what... I plan on upholding that promise, even if you reject..." Kyle flicked a piece of hair out of his face and brushed by Reid angrily while he had been talking as he headed for the door off of the ship. _What will it take for Kyle to realize the truth?_ Reid wondered. _Will it have to come down to actually fighting with the Darkness before he realizes that I'm on his side? I don't want to end my friendship with him...  
~~~_

The team instantly went back to the one familiar face in town: Guston. The Celestian man was surprised to see to not only see the heroes again, but to also see that Shileska's leader was among them. As soon as Guston saw Max, he shot up out of his seat and quickly spun around before giving the usual "Miacis to our hearts!" salute.

"At ease." Max said with the composure of an army officer. Guston went up to Max and shook his hand.

"What brings you to Peruti, Max?" He said after letting go of Max's hand.

"My friend Reid here..." Max grabbed Reid by the arm and dragged him over to his side to give the ginger Inferian a one-armed hug before continuing, "...followed this key thing..."

"...The Seyfert Key... Reid corrected, still imprisoned in Max's hold.

"Yeah, that..." Max said, unabashed by Reid's correction. "Anyways, the key pointed us here to Peruti and thought we'd stop by."

"We're looking for some kind of holy shrine of Seyfert, according to Galenos." Reid said. "Guston's face lit up.

"Well, I think I might know what you're looking for~~~" He said, straightening up. "It just so happens that I met a young Inferian man with long blond hair who told me about something like that..."

"Ras..." Kyle said quietly.

"That was his name..." Guston said. "Ras told me when I first met him that he had just come from a place to the south of here where there was an island with a small shrine on it..."

"That MUST be what we're looking for..." Keele said. "Well, then I guess we should head there."

"South, huh?" Chat said. "Reid, what does the Key say?" Reid quickly withdrew the Seyfert Key, and, sure enough, it was pointing due south.

"Baiba!" Meredy said. "The Seyfert Key changed direction!" Reid smiled at the Key, and then turned to face Guston.

"Thank you for helping us." Reid said, bowing slightly. Afterwards, he spun around to face the exit, and the team made their way out of the house.

"So, let's get back onto the boat." Chat said. "We're headed due south for..." Just then, Chat was cut off by a faint mewling noise.

"What was that?" Keele asked. "It kinda sounded like..."

"MIACIS!" Max yelled aloud, cutting Keele off. All of a sudden, the meowing sound came again, and then Max ran off.

"Max!" Reid said, trying to stop the overeager Celestian man. However, much to everybody's dismay, Max had thundered out of sight.

"Great..." Chat sighed. "We can't leave without him... Might as well try to get him back..." And with that, the others ran off after Max.  
~~~

When the others had found Max, he was as still as a statue, staring at a little pink creature with whom he had locked eyes with.

"Max?" Reid said. He was quickly shushed by Max before he could say anything else, though.

"Be quiet..." He whispered aloud. "I found it..."

"Found what?" Kyle inquired. He too was shushed by Max.

"It's the legendary Pink Miacis..." Max whispered. Reid and Kyle exchanged looks of confusion for a second before Kyle's face transmogrified to an angry frown, which was followed up by an angry harrumph as he looked away. Chat sighed.

"WHY are you calling that stupid little cat legendary, Max?" She said loudly. "I see nothing legendary about it..." Before Max could shush her, the Pink Miacis looked at Chat and meowed. "W-what is it... doing?" She said as the creature eyed her longingly.

"Baiba!" Meredy said. "It looks like the Miacis likes Chat!" Chat shook her head vigorously in disbelief.

"What makes you say THAT, Meredy?" Chat turned her head to look at Meredy as she said this, which, in turn, caused the Miacis to start inching its way toward Chat. When it mewed again, Chat looked back and saw it was closer to her. "GAH!" She yelped as she saw it had gotten closer. "That THING is coming to get me!"

"Hmm..." Max said as he scratched his beard. "It looks like..." He slowly walked behind everybody else over to where Chat was and snatched the hat off of her head. Chat quickly spun around when she noticed that her hat had been stolen.

"HEY!" She yelled at Max. "GIMME THAT HAT BACK! IT'S MY GRANDFATHER'S HAT!"

"Sorry, Chat, I need this for a little bit..." He then turned to see the Miacis practically at his feet, looking up at him. It meowed softly. "Hello there, adorable little Miacis~~~" His normally gruff tone was replaced by a belitting voice. "Do you want this hat?"

"Huh?" Chat said as she heard Max. "So... That cat wanted my hat? And it was coming closer because of my hat?"

"I'll give you this hat if you let me pet you~~~" He said. Chat shook her head in disbelief.

"MAX!" She yelled. "D-don't give that creature my hat!" She was ready to run over to where Max was and steal her hat back, but then she remembered that there was a Miacis at his feet and did nothing.

"Just let me get one pettttt..." Max bent down to give the Miacis a pet on the head, but then it suddenly mewed again. An instant later, a green bolt of lightning came down from the heavens and struck Max dead on. Max immediately collapsed.

"Max!" Meredy yelled as she saw the man get zapped.

"Max, are you all right?" Reid said as he ran over to Max. Everybody else did, as well, which caused the Miacis to become scared and it fled.

"Max...?" Kyle said slowly as he stared at the fainted man. Just as he said that, without any warning, Max shot up to a sitting position, causing everybody to leap backwards in shock.

"YEAH!" He said before leaping back onto his feet. "I feel great! Never better!"

"Well, that's... a relief..." Keele said as he watched Max dance around like a mad man.

"Aaand, guess what?" Everybody stared at Max, and he gave them no time to respond. "I was given the power of the legendary Pink Miacis! I have a powerful new Arte!"

"Riight..." Chat said as she recovered her hat and brushed off the dirt on it. "Anyways, we have to get going for that shrine that Guston was telling us about..." She and the others started to make their way in the direction of the boat. Unabashed, Max continued.

"No really! Check this out!" He pulled out his bazooka and pointed it forward. It was aimed at Reid.

"M-Max?" The surprised ginger said. "What the hell are you doing?"

"TAKE THIS, SHIZEL!" Max yelled, apparently not having heard Reid. A gasp from behind Reid made him turn to see that Kyle was standing behind and slightly to the left of him.

"Max! Shizel isn't here!" He yelled. Max wasn't listening. He was too power-drunk to hear anybody.

"AIR BLADE!" Max yelled, and a large burst of wind erupted from his bazooka. Reid looked back to see that Kyle was paralyzed in place.

"KYLE, MOVE!" He yelled. The blonde didn't move. Reid wasn't going to let his friend get hurt by Max's stupidity, so he quickly ran over and tackled Kyle, who yelped upon getting knocked over. The Air Blade Arte passed harmlessly over their heads. Reid sighed, and then he realized that he was still on top of Kyle. His eyes were drawn the boy's neck, where he saw that it was glowing white. _He really DOES get a reaction to me... _Reid thought. _Did I unintentionally join the Darkness? No... There must be another explanation..._

"GET OFF OF ME!" Kyle yelled with both anger and pain in his voice. Reid immediately got off of his friend, who in turn shot back onto his feet and pointed his hands threateningly at Reid. His eyes were full of pain, though his face was completely highlighted with outrage. "I'LL BURN YOU TO A CRISP! HOW DARE YOU INSIST ON HURTING ME!" Reid shook his head slowly.

"I didn't mean to..." He said. "I want to protect you... I want to be your friend more than anything..."

"Friends don't join the evil beings that are trying to destroy their friend..." Kyle's hands were still pointed towards Reid. "You can hardly call yourself a friend if you're trying to kill me..."

"Kyle..." Meredy had walked over next to Kyle while he had been talking to Reid. "Reid wants to be friends. Meredy also wants to be friends... Kyle is the one pushing us away..."

"I wouldn't have to if you had all just stayed loyal to me..." He said, voice getting lower in pitch. Meredy placed a hand on his shoulder, having forgotten about what happened last time.

"Kyle..." She said. "Please, believe Meredy!" Kyle was wincing in pain upon being touched by Meredy.

"Please, Kyle..." Reid had also sidled up next to Kyle. "You're only hurting yourself by pushing us away." Just then, Reid gingerly placed his hand on Kyle's shoulder, but, a millisecond later, he was forced to withdraw it as his hand grew white hot. He looked at Meredy. She too was cradling her hand as if she had just burnt it. At that moment, Kyle collapsed as if he had fainted, but as he fell backwards, both Reid and Meredy realized that his eyes were still open, but it was like he was hypnotized: his pupils were gone, and all that could be seen were the irises of his eyes. Reid and Meredy exchanged confused glances. Before either could say anything, a high pitched laugh permeated through the air.

"FINALLY!" An unfamiliar, high pitched, and seemingly disembodied voice echoed from nearby. "We've been waiting for SO LONG for this!"

"Who's there?" Keele yelled, having whipped out his staff in less than a second.

"It's been TOO long since Master had us place that spell on that kid!" A second, slightly different voice came from hammer space. "Now we can FINALLY go through with the rest of our mission!" Reid pulled out his sword and looked around.

"I'm not letting you take Kyle!" He yelled, completely on guard.

"Pfft, mortals..." The first voice said. "As if you could stop us!" Suddenly, Reid fell over onto his face without warning, and Meredy onto her back. "You can't even see us! How can you fight us?"

"Where are you?" Max's voice boomed as he pointed his bazooka in every direction, trying to find the owners of the voices.

"Hmph, what amateurs... Let's just get on with it, sis..." The second voice said. Reid turned to look at Kyle and saw that he was being lifted off the ground by some invisible force.

"No!" Reid yelled. "You can't have him!" He jumped up to try and save Kyle, but, all of a sudden, his body froze up mid-air and he was sent crashing back into the ground. He tried to get up, but he couldn't move. _Dammit, no! _Reid thought._ I have to save him!_

"Air Thrust!" Keele yelled.

"Splash!" Meredy also called out simultaneously. The two spells shot up around Kyle, but a scream of agony from Kyle was the sole effect of the spells.

"Careful, mortal mages~~~" The second voice said. "You're hurting your friend, and I hardly think that's what you want to do~~~"

"...What do we do now?" Keele said quietly. "We can't attack directly, or else we'll end up like Reid... We can't use magic, or else we'll hurt Kyle... I don't know what to do..."

"HA HA HA HA!" The two voices were speaking together. "WE WIN! NOW, LET'S..." Before the voices could continue, a bright flash permeated through the air. The two voices started screaming loudly, and then the screams faded away. As the light faded, Reid was able to move again and sat up to see Kyle being gently placed back on the ground by some invisible force.

_Kyle's father... Is he helping us again? _Reid thought as he saw Kyle lying on the ground, eyes now closed.

_Come to the bottom of the ocean... _A deep monotone voice echoed in Reid's mind. Though Reid had never heard the voice of Kyle's father before, he guessed from the robotic nature of the voice that it wasn't Kyle's father who was speaking right now. _I await my master, the One who Controls Destiny... The pact must be made soon, or my power will falter..._ The voice was then silent. Reid was going over what just happened in his mind as Kyle reawakened.

"...What happened?" Kyle asked as he looked up at Reid. His eyes held no hostility within them.

"I honestly don't know..." Reid said, somewhat relieved that Kyle wasn't angry at him anymore, but at the same time still worried about what had just happened. "We should just head back to the Van Eltia and go towards that shrine south of here. You ready to go?"

"Reid?"

"What is it, Kyle?"

"Thank you." He was smiling serenely at his friend. "I saw how you had tried to stop those minions of the Darkness from taking me... I see now that I was wrong... You really ARE still on my side..." He held out a hand for Reid to help him up. Reid smiled and took his hand, only to have Kyle withdraw it a second later while yelling "Ouch!" Reid held his breath, hoping that Kyle wouldn't relapse back into anger. However, he instead said, "...Aah, dammit, I forgot that I still can't touch you. ...There must be a reason why I have the same reaction to you that I do to the Darkness..."

"Yeah, it's really weird..." Reid said. "Hopefully we'll get answers soon..." _We might just have to dive down to the bottom of the ocean to get them, though..._

* * *

**Author's Final Note: **Well, this was certainly a deviation from Tales of Eternia. Don't worry, everything will be explained soon! I'm not going to give up on this story any time soon! I might need a little... motivation to keep writing, however~~~ *coughreviewspleasecough* *shot* Thanks for reading! 8D


	13. Chapter 28: The First Trial of Seyfert

**Two Destinies Chapter 28: The First Trial of Seyfert**

**Author's Preface: **Seeing as my summer has pretty much begun (save for two exams, but that's nothing), I have a LOT more time to work on this story. That might change if I find a new job, but for now, I have lots of time to write. :D I wonder how far I'm gonna get with this story by the end of this summer? Probably nowhere near the ending, but I'll definitely be farther along~~~ Enjoy the chapter! (BTW, as a little note, the "111111"s don't have any significance... They're supposed to represent a break, seeing as I don't want to abuse the line breaks anymore... XD)

* * *

By the time the team had returned to the Van Eltia, the sun was going down. The whole ordeal with the Pink Miacis followed by the attack of the minions of Darkness had taken up pretty much the entirety of the day. Everybody migrated to their rooms to rest for the night, hopefully to regain their energy for the upcoming journey. Nobody knew what to expect for the First Trial of Seyfert, and Reid especially was getting nervous. For a while, he wasn't able to rest properly as he thought of all kinds of scenarios as to what the First Trial might be. However, he remembered Ras mentioning something about taking the body of another person for the trial. In Ras' case, he had taken the body of one of Kyle's friends. Reid wondered if he would have to do the same. Once his thoughts had relaxed, knowing he wasn't going to have to do something ridiculous for the trial like walk barefoot across hot coals or stay submerged for five hours, he started to fall asleep.

On the other hand, Kyle was having a different problem. He had fallen asleep fairly easily, despite the fact that the scenario from earlier was still replaying in his head, and he had lapsed into a nightmare. It was pitch black – there was absolutely nothing to be seen. He instead had to focus on the words that were echoing through the abyss. The dream had started out with the sounds of swords and large blunt objects swinging through the air and quickly became dialogue.

_You've already lost! _A unfamiliar, deep, and multilayered voice boomed. _There's nothing you can do to stop me!_

_I'll never give up! _This voice belonged to Kyle's father. _You'll never get away with your evil plan!_

_Aah, but can you reach me in time to foil my plans? _The evil voice laughed madly.

_Dad! _Kyle gasped upon hearing his own voice. _Please! Help me! Aaaagh! _Kyle gasped again as he heard this shout of agony.

_Silence, Child! _The evil voice boomed. _Or else the last emotion you will feel before I tear out your heart will be pain! _Kyle couldn't believe his ears. Tear out his heart? Was this really the goal of the beings of Darkness?

_I won't let you! _It was Reid's voice that spoke this time. _You'll have to kill me first before you can kill him!_

_Is that so? _The Darkness boomed again. _That can be arranged..._

_REID, NO! _He was yelling. _REID! EVERYBODY, GET AWAY WHILE YOU STILL... AAAAAAAAAAAAH! _His own scream of terrified agony made Kyle's blood curdle. Soon, Kyle's screaming had faded away, and the screams of his father, Reid, and everybody else in their group as well as dark, evil laughter began to resound through the darkness. It sounded like they were all being killed and the Lord of Darkness was enjoying their demises. Before he could stop himself, he yelled "NO!" aloud, and then he realized that he was sitting up in his bed, wide awake. It was still the middle of the night. Kyle hoped that his scream hadn't awakened anybody else. However, a knock at the door told otherwise.

"Kyle?" Reid's voice came from behind the door. "Kyle, are you all right?" Kyle sighed with relief.

"I'm fine." He said in a calm tone, though his thoughts were racing about what he had just heard. Was that dialogue really from the future?

"I'm coming in anyways." Reid said as he opened the door. He took a few paces closer to Kyle's bed before he spoke again. "Hey, did you have another nightmare?" Kyle looked down.

"Yeah..." He said. "But I didn't actually see anything... All I heard was talking... And I heard so many things that I wish I hadn't been overhearing..."

"Mind telling me?" Reid said, starting to get worried for his friend. Kyle locked eyes with Reid.

"It was a vision of the future..." He said finally. "You guys and Dad were trying to save me from being killed by the Darkness... But then, the Lord of the Darkness used me to... to..." Kyle's voice trailed off. He then cried in agony before continuing. "I can't believe that I'm gonna be forced to do that!"

"Do what?" Reid was really concerned now. He took another step closer.

"I... I'm gonna be forced to kill everybody..." Kyle slowly shook his head. "I don't wanna be used to kill anybody... THERE HAS TO BE A WAY TO CHANGE IT!" Reid spoke up.

"Perhaps if we find the Sword of Destiny, we can change the future." He said. "We can't give up hope until we find the Sword of Destiny, okay?" Kyle looked up at Reid and nodded.

"Yeah..." He said quietly. "That would probably work..." After that, Kyle laid back in his bed and fell asleep again. Reid smiled and then he left the room, presumably to fall asleep himself.

111111

The next morning, the team had arrived at the Shrine of Seyfert. The Shrine was a grand place; it was vibrantly decorated with architecture that looked both brand new and ancient at the same time. It was in pristine condition, and there was not a speck of dust to be had. As soon as the team entered, they were overcome by a sense of awe, Keele especially.

"Wow..." Keele whispered aloud. "This place is amazing..."

"Okay..." Reid looked off farther into the shrine. "We've got to find where the First Trial takes place..."

"The First Trial is probably all the way in..." Meredy chirped. "We should go in." The team then started walking. However, Kyle did not budge. Chat was the one who noticed that he wasn't coming. She stopped and turned to face him.

"Kyle, what are you doing? Come on!" The boy briskly shook his head.

"I'm staying right here!" He said defiantly. Chat frowned at him. "I'm getting a bad vibe from this place..." Keele took a couple steps back toward him.

"Come on, Kyle..." Keele scolded. "You're being ridiculously paranoid. We're in the holy shrine of a GOD, for Seyfert's sake! This place can't have any of those invisible Darkness things here waiting for you!" Kyle shook his head.

"They weren't invisible... I saw what they looked like... They looked like two devil girls with large, glowing, black wings..." He blinked once and shook his head a little more before continuing. "But that's besides the point! I'm still getting a weird feeling from the mark on my neck! How do you explain _THAT?_" Keele rubbed his chin.

"There's probably some reason besides the influence of the Darkness that's causing it..." The blue haired scholar said slowly. "Whatever it is, just come on. It's not going to kill you." He then began to walk away with the others. Sighing with arrested contempt, Kyle reluctantly followed.

111111

The largest room in the shrine was a giant grand room with a domed roof. There was an object in the middle of the room that seemed to be the source of light of the entire room. "I wonder what this place is for?" Reid wondered aloud as his thoughts filled the entire room with echoes.

"Is this where the Trial is?" Max's voice, which was already loud to begin with, was five times louder from the echoing.

"I doubt it." Keele said as he stepped forward to examine the object in the center of the room. "This place just doesn't say 'trial' to me. It must be farther in." However, he was more focused on the strange object than on what he was saying. The team continued forward, with Reid having to tug on Keele's ponytail to get the scholar's attention, and they moved into the next room.

The next room was quite plain looking, save for a strange carving that looked like some kind of animal. It could be entered through the mouth, it seemed, but there was a light colored haze in front of it.

"It's a barrier..." Keele said, going over and touching it. The haze resisted the pressure from Keele's hand. "Looks like it won't let me beyond this point... I have a hunch that the Trial is beyond here... Reid?" The scholar looked back at the ginger hunter. "Let's see if you can get by." Reid nodded, and then he walked over and touched the barrier. His hand phased through effortlessly. Smiling, Reid stepped through the barrier. Meredy started jumping up and down.

"Baiba!" She chirped. "Let Meredy try!" She skipped over to the barrier, which bent away from her. In the next second, the barrier snapped back forward, launching Meredy back with enough force to bowl Keele over as well as slide Max backwards a few feet. "Baiba!" She repeated in surprise as she saw that she had been launched clean across the room. A bead of sweat rolled down Chat, Reid and Kyle's necks. After everybody had recovered from Meredy's incident, Reid spoke from behind the barrier.

"All right then..." He said. "Looks like I'll be seeing you guys after..." At that moment, Reid noticed that Kyle was coming in his direction. "...Kyle? What are you do..." Reid took one look into Kyle's eyes and saw that his eyes looked hypnotized again. "Kyle! Hey! Snap out of it!" Reid's words fell upon deaf ears. Kyle kept continuing forward. "You're being possessed by the Darkness again! What are you doing?" Kyle stopped right in front of the barrier, staring right at Reid with his empty eyes. Reid silently stared back at him, as if he too was being hypnotized by his friend's empty eyes. In the next second, Kyle slowly lifted a hand up to eye level and placed it on the barrier. The barrier suddenly glowed white for a few seconds, making Reid jump back in surprise and look away from the blinding light. The glow then quickly faded, which caused the lightly colored haze of the barrier to return. A second later, Kyle collapsed to his knees. The others ran over to see if he was all right. Reid also wanted to go over and see what was going on, but the barrier wouldn't let him back through.

"Hey!" Max's voice boomed. "You all right, little guy?"

"I-I'm all right..." Kyle said in a low voice. "What just happened, though?"

"You blindly came over and touched this barrier..." Reid said. "Then it glowed white and... then you collapsed..."

"Reid, go on and take the Trial..." Kyle looked up at his friend. "Don't worry about me, I'm gonna be okay." A warm smile came across his face. Reid smiled, too.

"Well, at least you're okay now..." He said. "You stay that way while I'm taking the trial, you hear?" Kyle nodded. Reid then turned around and walked farther into the closure. As soon as Reid was out of sight, Kyle fell back into the others' arms.

"Kyle!" Keele said. "What's wrong? Tell us!"

"Don't you dare tell us you're all right!" Chat scolded. "You look so pale! What happened?"

"As soon as I had touched that barrier, a deep voice started saying things to me..." Kyle said. "It said 'the sea holds my Destiny', and a vision of an underwater cave was shown to me... I think it's telling me to go there..."

"Should we go there?" Chat asked everybody around her. "What if it's a trap laid down by the Darkness and we're falling right into their hands by going there?" Kyle shook his head slowly.

"I doubt it." He said softly. "The voice was unlike any that I'd heard before... I think it was the Sword of Destiny itself calling out to me..."

"Well, there's only one way to know..." Keele said. "We have to find that underwater cave..."

111111

Reid had continued through the looping, winding tunnels until he had come across a small, empty room. The air was filled with dense, powerful magic. Almost instantly, the magic gathered and transformed into a glowing hooded figure standing in the middle of the room. The figure began to speak, its voice echoing with magic.

"So, you have come to take the First Trial of Seyfert?" It said. Reid nodded.

"I have." He said. The hooded figure paused for a second before continuing.

"Even for those who have Fibrill, the Trials of Seyfert are cruel. Are you prepared?" Reid took a step forward.

"I'm ready for anything! I will complete the Trial!"

"Then I shall arrange for your first trial to begin immediately. Close your eyes and let yourself go~~~" Reid's eyes were forced closed by magic, and then he felt a strange force moving him to somewhere else...

* * *

When Reid finally reawakened, he was staring up at the ceiling of a cave. The smell of fungus was all around him. _Where am I?_ Was the first thing Reid wondered. He then sat up and stretched out his arms... only to find that they were covered with purple fur! "What the...?" He wanted to say that aloud, but all that came out of his mouth was an incoherent growl. He got onto his feet, after stumbling a bit, and started to look at his body. It was entirely covered with purple fur, and he had large, powerful claws on both of his arms. Quickly, he found a stream and looked down to see what he had become... Only to see the reflection of...

"AN EGGBEAR!" He yelled, though it had sounded like loud growling to the rest of the world. "I'M IN THE BODY OF A FREAKING EGGBEAR!" At that moment, his inner torment had ceased as he sniffed the air. _What's this smell? _He thought. _It smells like... Rotten eggs and blood... And it's making me angry... _He blindly went after the smell, which, as well as being enraging to this Eggbear persona, was overly nauseating to Reid. He wanted to faint from the putrid smell, but he knew better than to show any weakness – this WAS a Trial, after all. He doubted this smell would be the worst of it.

Sure enough, rounding the corner, he came into a small cave outcrop, where the smell was ridiculously overpowering. Looking around, he saw that the stench was coming from a bunch of slain baby Eggbears and smashed Eggbear eggs. _No..._ He thought. _This is terrible... This is infuriating! Whomever did this is going to pay!_ Reid realized that his emotions were being controlled by the Eggbear's reaction, but he did nothing to resist these emotions. He too was enraged that anybody would do this to this Eggbear's young.

Reid then picked up a new scent – it smelled human, and it smelled like the human was afraid. He blindly ran off after the human smell deeper into the cave.

Deeper into the cave, Reid saw that there were other creatures advancing upon him. Creatures such as Green Ropers and Sea Slugs. Still enraged from what had happened to the Eggbear's family, Reid was easily able to slash anything that came in his direction in half. Even the ghostly Specters were no match for the Eggbear's claws as he angrily sliced them in half.

After blindly following the smell of human fear through the cave, Reid came upon another outcrop. This cave was full of the smells of multiple humans. Stepping into the cave, he saw that there were four sleeping bags set up around a campsite. The blind fury from the Eggbear was telling Reid to rip up the sleeping bags to kill the humans inside, and Reid was ready to do so, when, all of a sudden, he heard a voice.

"PREPARE TO DIE, EGGBEAR!" It said. The voice was... strangely familiar. Sure enough, a second later, there was a red haired teenager wearing a blue hunter's outfit and cream colored pants standing between the Eggbear and the sleeping bags. Behind the red haired teen was a blue haired teenager with white robes. Reid instantly recognized these two people – they were himself and Keele! Was Reid really going to have to fight himself? The human Reid pulled out his sword, and Keele was brandishing his staff. In the next instant, the human Reid came rushing at the Eggbear and tried to take a slice out of the Eggbear's arm. The Reid inside the Eggbear's body was able to easily predict the move and dodged it. _So I was really fighting myself back then? _Reid thought as he fought off the other Reid.

"Fire Ball!" Keele's voice rang out behind the human Reid. Three fireballs smacked right into the Eggbear's stomach, and Reid was overcome with an intense feeling of pain. "I found its weakness, Reid!" Keele shouted to his human companion.

"This should be easy, then!" The human Reid said, jumping back from the Eggbear's last assault. "Take this! Rising Phoenix!" Reid recalled that it was during this very battle that he had first used that attack, and now it was a staple in his moveset. He also recalled as it was this very move that had burnt the Eggbear to a crisp – and now he was going to be burnt alive, too! Sure enough, the flames of the Arte that Reid had relied upon so many times had smashed right into the Eggbear and were burning it alive. Reid was instantly overcome by the intense pain and heat and felt like he was going to faint. The last thing he felt before blacking out was the fear of failing the Trial...

* * *

When he regained consciousness, he saw that he was back in the Trial room, staring at the glowing figure. "I-I can explain..." He said, convinced that he had failed the Trial. The glowing figure instead held up a hand towards Reid.

"There's no reason to explain yourself." It said. "You have passed the Trial." Reid was stunned. He had lost the battle and had gotten the Eggbear killed. "The Eggbear might have been killed, but the point of the Trial wasn't to win the battle against yourself. If you had won that battle, you would have failed the Trial..." Reid stood there, absolutely stunned, but, after thinking about it for a second, he smiled with the realization of what the Trial was really trying to get at. The Eggbear had represented his blind instinct, and his human self winning was a representation of his better judgment winning over his instinct.

"I see now." He said. "I'm going to need to use my better judgment to control the Aurora Artes, aren't I?" The figure nodded.

"Indeed. You can't blindly use the Aurora Artes whenever you please. For one, you might end up killing yourself. That and thoughtlessly using the Aurora makes you no better than one who uses the Dark Aurora..." Reid nodded.

"All right. I understand." He said.

"Then receive the Aurora Wall and keep the lesson from this Trial at heart." The figure lifted a hand high into the air, and a rainbow colored glow entered Reid's body. He instantly felt a powerful sensation running through him. Was this the power of the Divine Aurora? "Use the power of Aurora to protect the ones you love, Reid Hershel..." After saying that, the glowing figure disappeared. Reid stood in place for a second before turning around to leave the Trial room. There was nothing more that he could do here.

* * *

**Author's Final Note: **Well, there you have it, the First Trial of Seyfert. So, what is the team going to do next? Find the Sword of Destiny, of course! So keep your eyes peeled for the next part of the story! :D Thanks again for reading! ^_^


	14. Chapter 29: The Roulette and the Legacy

**Two Destinies Chapter 29: The Roulette and the Legacy**

**Author's Preface: **Well, here's more of a lighthearted chapter. Still plot-relevant, but there's less of a serious nature to it. God, this puzzle was a pain in the arse... I'm gonna be coming up with a different spin to it, though. I'm gonna have this play out more like a board game. :3 Oh, and I think I forgot to say the good news here... I'm _**FINALLY**_ getting Tales of Destiny 2! Woo hoo! *shot for unnecessary emphasis on "finally"* Perhaps my Destiny 2 chapters will be more... accurate now. :3 One more piece of news: I'm going to start putting up these chapters on my deviantART (~augla39354, in case you were wondering), and the earlier chapters will be getting revamped, so check them out! Enjoy this chapter either way!

* * *

Once the party members had all gathered outside the Shrine of Seyfert, everybody congratulated Reid for successfully completing the trial. Before Reid could start recounting his story of the trial, Kyle approached Reid with a question.

"So... Did you also have to protect me as Loni like Ras did?" He asked. Reid shook his head.

"My trial was different." He said. "I was an Eggbear for the trial..."

"An Eggbear!" Meredy shouted. "Why was Reid an Eggbear?"

"It supposedly represented my basic instincts..." He said. "The fact that the Eggbear was killed by myself back in Nostos Cave was symbolizing my judgment winning over my instinct... In other words, I have to be smart about using the power of Aurora. I can't just use it whenever..."

"So, where does the Seyfert Key say for us to go now?" Keele wondered aloud. Reid looked at him, and then withdrew the Key from the satchel on his hip. Instantly, it started glowing, and then the beam of light shot straight up.

"Up?" Chat said, looking at the sky. "Why is it pointing up?"

"It must mean that we have to go to Inferia..." Keele deduced.

"Really? Inferia..." Max said, also looking skyward. "I wouldn't mind seeing where you, Farah, and Keele came from myself..."

"It's really not that amazing..." Reid said. "The only differences is that the sky is blue and usually cloudless and that the people have light colored skin..."

"Inferia..." Kyle said almost hypnotically as he too stared up at the sky. "It sounds a lot like my world..." Reid smiled.

"Then I think you'll really like it." Reid said. "It's a lot warmer there, too."

"But how will we get there?" Meredy asked. "Meredy got to Inferia by using a spaceship, but that spaceship was one of a kind, and it got destroyed!"

"That and I doubt all of us could fit in that thing even if it wasn't..." Keele said, sighing. "Meredy brings up a good point... We have no idea how to get back to Inferia..."

"I have an idea." Chat said. Everybody looked at her. "I think we should look for Aifread's Legacy."

"Aifread's Legacy?" Keele wondered aloud. "What's that?" Chat shrugged.

"I'm not exactly sure..." She said. "...But my grandfather plundered both Inferia AND Celestia, so he had to somehow get between the two worlds. Before I moved out of my parents' house, I remember my father once telling me that when I was finally old enough to command the Van Eltia that I should find Aifread's Legacy and carry on the family tradition. I'm pretty sure that the "Legacy" he was referring to was how he got from Inferia to Celestia and back."

"Well, we have no other options..." Reid said. "Let's look into this Legacy thing, then..."

"There should be more information regarding it at my house." Chat said. "Let's return there for the time being."

111111

The Van Eltia had quickly sailed across the Celestian sea back to Chat's house. There, Chat showed them an intriguing monument to her grandfather that had been erected there. "It's a riddle." She explained. "It says '204, 98. Solve the riddle of the numbers and the Bridge of Expedition shall appear.' The thing is... I have no idea what those numbers mean..." Keele scratched his chin.

"Bridge of Expedition, huh?" He said. "And those numbers... It looks like they might be... Coordinates..."

"Coordinates?" Reid inquired. "How can you be so sure?"

"I can't think of anything else those numbers could mean..." He said, still staring at the monument. Chat snapped her fingers.

"So THAT's why I received this for my tenth birthday!" She exclaimed suddenly. She dug into her bag and, a couple seconds later, held out a device for the others to see.

"...What is it?" Meredy asked, examining the device in Chat's hand.

"It's a GPS." She said. "It gives locations in X and Y coordinates. For example, it's saying that our current coordinates are 106, 115." Keele's face lit up.

"Then our best bet is to follow that GPS to the coordinates 204, 98 and see what's there." He said. "All right, let's head back to the Van Eltia."

"Might as well..." Reid shrugged. "We have no other leads, after all..." And with that, the team returned to the Van Eltia to find out what exactly was waiting for them at those coordinates.

111111

The heroes sailed along, diligently watching the GPS for the locations in question. It took them a while, but eventually, they were approaching the coordinates that they were looking for.

"Okay..." Keele said, paying more attention to the GPS than to what was going on around him. "We're currently at 204, 80... We just have to go a little farther... NO, WRONG WAY! Now we're at... Guh!" Chat had thrown a Pow Hammer back in Keele's direction, which had directly bopped him on the head.

"Stop breaking my concentration, Keele! Just tell me which direction I need to go in!" Keele glared at Reid and Kyle, who were laughing at him having gotten Pow Hammered, and then he once again focused on the GPS.

"Okay, now we're at 206, 80... We just have to go a little south... 81, 82, 83..."

"JUST TELL ME WHEN WE GET UP TO NINETY-EIGHT, KEELE!" Chat shouted. Keele instantly stopped counting. "I CAN'T CONCENTRATE WHEN YOU'RE SAYING THINGS EVERY OTHER SECOND!" At that moment, Kyle walked up to the window and started staring out of it. Reid called out to him.

"Hey, are you being possessed again?" He asked. Kyle shook his head while still staring out the window.

"No, I'm not possessed... And I definitely see something... It looks like... A cave..." Reid walked up behind Kyle and stared in the direction Kyle was looking towards. He too saw a cave.

"Well, whaddya know?" Reid said. "There really is a cave coming up on the left..." Inadvertently, Reid placed his hands on Kyle's shoulders, which caused Kyle to shrink away from Reid in pain. When Kyle shot back a pained expression towards Reid, a bead of sweat ran down the back of his neck. "Oops, sorry..." He said. "I kinda forgot..." Kyle shot Reid an awkward smile.

"No big deal..." He said calmly. "I'm sure you didn't mean to hurt me..." Under his breath, he added, "Oww... That hurt more than ever..." However, it was loud enough so that Reid could hear it. Reid started thinking about what Kyle had just said for a second, when, all of a sudden, there was a bright flash of light.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Chat asked. "Kyle! Reid! Tell me what's going on!" The two guys looked out the window at a very strange sight. Many different colored explosions were occurring right before their very eyes. The explosions looked a lot like...

"I think they're... fireworks..." Kyle said. Reid nodded in agreement. Chat was flabbergasted.

"Fireworks? Why the hell are there fireworks being shot off? It's the middle of the day, and we're in the middle of nowhere!"

"I think they might be... celebrating our arrival..." Reid said, still staring at the strange display of fireworks.

"Your grandfather wasn't exactly paddling with both oars, was he, Chat?" Keele said, speaking up for the first time in a while. He was instantly met with a Pow Hammer to the head.

"Don't insult my grandfather!" Chat scolded, and then she looked out the window again. "All right, looks like we the Legacy. Let's go check it out." After saying that, Chat sailed the Van Eltia over to a nearby outcrop so the team could disembark and check out Aifread's Legacy.

111111

Once the team was inside the cave, they noticed it was brightly decorated with many objects. Everybody stared at Chat after looking around for a while.

"This is Aifread's Legacy?" Kyle was the first to speak up. Chat shrugged.

"I don't know..." She said. "But I have a hunch that it actually might be farther inside. There's really nothing in this part of this place that says "Legacy" to me." After saying that, she walked farther in, accompanied by the rest of the team.

As soon as they entered the next room, they realized that there were platforms marked with ascending numbers. When they had all clamored onto Platform #1, a jet of fire sprung up behind them and disembodied voice started to cackle.

"Is it the Darkness again?" Reid said, looking around for the source of the voice.

"No, it can't be..." Kyle said. "I don't sense anything here."

"I think we might be hearing Aifread's voice, guys..." Chat said. "Let's see what he wants."

"Welcome!" What was supposedly Aifread's voice echoed through the cave. "So, you've come after my Legacy, have you?" The voice laughed again, sending shivers down everybody's backs. "Let's see if you're worthy of taking it by playing a little game~~~ The rules are that each of you must one at a time hit a floating dice and move that many number of platforms forward. On most of the spaces, an event will occur. If you fail to complete the event, you'll be removed from the game. If any one of you can make it all the way to the end of the map, you all will be set free. If you all fail, you will spend the rest of your days stuck in here!" A spotlight illuminated a rather small looking cage hanging over the abyss below with a skeleton situated inside of it. Everybody gasped.

"W-what if we don't want to play your game?" Keele said, trying to sound brave.

"YOU HAVE NO CHOICE! BWAHAHA!" Aifread's evil laugh was starting to sound even MORE insane. Everybody looked at Chat. She held up her hands toward everybody.

"H-how was **I **supposed to know that we were going to have to play a game of life and death here?" She protested. "Look, all we have to do is have one of us cross the finish line and we'll all succeed."

"But that means the likelihood of any of us succeeding is pretty slim..." Keele said, gulping a little.

"Well, seeing as we have no other choice, let's start playing." Chat said. "I'll go first to see what it's like." And with that, Chat stepped forward and a small floating dice started wildly spinning over her head. She gingerly touched it, and it stopped. The top face of the dice had a three on it. The path to the next segment of the board opened up.

"YEAH!" Max said. "Let's go, guys!" And he charged through the doorway before Chat could get through. As soon as he took one step off of the platform, he was magically shot up into the air. Everybody gasped.

"No cheating!" Aifread's voice said. "It wasn't your turn yet! You who rolled the dice may go... The rest of you must wait!"

"Well, there goes one sixth of our chances of winning..." Chat said, sweatdropping.

"I'm okay!" Max's voice came from a distance. "I'm dangling over a deep abyss of nothingness in a tiny cage, but I'm okay!" Everybody sweatdropped.

"Let's just keep going..." Reid said. Chat nodded and then she continued three platforms forward. When she finally got there, a crab monster suddenly popped out of nowhere.

"Defeat this monster to succeed!" Aifread's voice demanded. The crab creature quickly scuttled sideways towards Chat, but she jumped toward the creature's backside. It started looking everywhere for Chat, who used this to her advantage.

"Toss Hammer!" She yelled as she threw a green Pow Hammer at the crab. As soon as it hit the crab, its entire body turned the same color as the hammer. "Yes! Got it poisoned!" She celebrated. However, she was celebrating too soon. Despite being poisoned, the crab was still trying to ram into her. It successfully hit her, but Chat recovered quickly and started tossing a bunch of spheres at the crab. Eventually, the poison had taken its toll and the crab fell onto its back, dead. "All right!" She celebrated. There was the sound of clapping.

"Congratulations, challenger, you have passed this round, but don't get too comfortable. There's still more perilous challenges ahead~~~" He paused for a second before continuing. "Next player, come forward and roll the dice!" Looking around at each other before Reid stepped forward to hit the dice. He too rolled a three. Reid smiled.

"Great! I can take on that crab no problem!" He said as he unsheathed his sword and ran to the same platform as Chat. However, as he arrived to the platform, a giant ghost creature stood before him. Chat gasped. Reid was unabashed.

"This challenge is for the second player alone." Aifread's voice said. "If the first player assists, that player will be removed from the game." Chat nodded.

"Go, Reid!" She cheered. The redheaded swordsman nodded and ran towards the enemy. He and his sword phased right through the ghost's body.

"Huh?" He said, staring at Chat. She shrugged. The enemy cackled from behind and then swiped Reid across the back. He was knocked forward right off the edge of the platform.

"REID!" The rest of his companions called out. In the next second, there was a far away thud, followed by Reid's voice groaning.

"Oww... My head hurts..." He said. At that moment, there was a pained yelp from Reid.

"Oh, Reid!" Max's voice said. "I thought for sure that you were gone forever!" Everybody sighed and sweatdropped at the same time. Max's hugs were a fate worse than death.

"Player three!" Aifread's voice said. Keele reluctantly stepped forward. He gingerly tapped the floating dice. It came up with a five. He smiled for a split second before making his way five platforms. As soon as he got there, confetti sprung up around him, startling him.

"Congratulations!" Aifread's voice said. "You found one of the only non booby trapped spaces on the board! You're safe... for now~~~" Keele looked back at everybody else and smiled smugly. "Player four!" Aifread's voice called out again.

"Oh yeah?" Kyle said as he stepped forward. "I can get a five, too!" He rolled a one. "Aww, man, a one?" He complained. "What a lousy first roll..." He walked to the next platform ahead of him and, out of the blue, gas came up around him, completely shrouding Kyle from view. A couple seconds later, there was a loud thud. When the smoke faded away, everybody saw that Kyle was lying face first on the ground. Meredy gasped.

"Kyle!" She said, wondering as to what had just happened.

"Oops, looks like player four fell into a pit of sleeping gas~~~" Aifread said. "Player four's gonna have to skip a turn~~~" Everybody sighed. At least Kyle was just sleeping. This was confirmed a few seconds later by a loud snore from Kyle. "Player five!" Aifread's voice called out. Meredy stepped forward and hit the block. She rolled a four. Meredy skipped along past the sleeping Kyle and Chat and stopped on the fourth space. Like with Kyle's space, Meredy's space also filled up with gas. However, the gas on her space was green. Meredy started coughing wildly.

"Ooh, tough luck..." Aifread's voice echoed. "You've been poisoned~~~" When the gas cleared away, Meredy was still coughing. Keele ran back towards her without leaving his platform.

"Meredy, come here for a second!" Meredy, still coughing, took a few steps closer towards Keele. As soon as she got close enough, Keele raised his Craymel Cage into the air. "Recover!" Green light sparkled around Meredy and then she stopped coughing.

"Baiba!" She said, twirling around. "Meredy is no longer poisoned! Thank you, Keele!"

111111

The game play continued for a while with no further casualties until turn eight. Keele was given a simple riddle to solve.

"Tell me, Player Three... What's brown and sticky?" Aifread's voice sounded smug. Keele scratched his chin.

"Brown and sticky, huh?" He said. "That's really a broad question... Molasses is brown and..." He was cut off.

"WRONG!" The voice said as Keele was magically scooped up into the air and dropped into the cage with Reid and Max. "The correct answer is 'a stick'. Get it? A stick? Ha ha ha!" The voice started laughing hysterically. Reid chuckled as well.

"I get it." He said. "A stick~~~ Sticks are sticky..." Reid received a harsh glare from Keele. Reid shot back a snarky reply: "What? Can't you take a joke?" Keele's face transmogrified to one of disgust. "...Guess not..." Reid finished.

"Half of the challengers remain, and they're rapidly approaching the finish..." Aifread's voice boomed. "...But can even one of them make it?"

"You'll see!" Kyle yelled out. "We've got Chat on our side! She's the descendant of Aifread! We're sure to win!" Kyle had spoken too soon. Chat had rolled a two and stepped forward to the designated platform. Almost the instant she got to the middle of the platform, the ground dropped out from underneath her, which caused Chat to scream as she fell. She too was placed in the hanging cage.

"Kyle! Meredy! It's up to you two now!" She yelled. Meredy, who was two spaces in front of Kyle, turned around and looked at him. Kyle nodded slowly.

"Player Four, it's once again your turn~~~" Kyle rolled a four. He walked past Meredy and stood in the center of the platform, hoping that it wouldn't fall out from underneath him. When Aifread's voice started, Kyle knew he at least wasn't going to be falling into a pit... Or so he assumed.

"Player Four..." The voice said. "You must face your greatest fear in order to move on. Everybody gasped, Kyle the loudest of them all. Sure enough, as everybody could predict, a giant sheep appeared on the same platform as Kyle. It bleated loudly and stared at its opponent.

"Y-you've got to be kidding me..." He said, staring up at the giant animal. Once again, it bleated, and then Kyle let out a yelp of terror. The sheep locked eyes with Kyle, and then it bent its head down nosed Kyle in the head. Kyle was instantly sent sprawling to the ground, still staring up at the giant sheep, paralyzed with fear.

"Come on, Kyle!" Everybody was cheering for him and rooting him on. None of the cheering worked. Kyle was too focused on the giant sheep to pay anything else any attention. The sheep bent its head down and rested its nose upon his exposed stomach, exhaling slowly. That was when Kyle passed out from the overwhelming sense of fear. The sheep hadn't even hurt Kyle, and he was already knocked out. As per the rules, Kyle was removed from the game and placed in the hanging cage. Everybody rushed over to the poor blond boy's side in attempts to revive him.

"Okay, Meredy!" Chat yelled from the cage. "No pressure! You just have to get to the end, or else we'll all die here forever!" Everybody sweatdropped.

"Roll a six and you win~~~" Aifread's voice echoed. "Though that's hardly likely..." Meredy rolled a three. "See?" He said. "And that space is..." Confetti shot out of the ground again. "...Whose bright idea was it to put a safe spot three spaces away from the end?" Everybody in the cage cheered. Meredy jumped up to hit the dice block again. This time, she rolled a one. Everybody groaned.

"Meredy is doing the best Meredy can..." She shrugged.

"This space is..." Just then, a roar came out of the blue. A large pterodactyl creature flew down in front of Meredy. "Ooh, let's see you beat this~~~" Meredy smiled.

"Meredy knows what to do!" She said, twirling around. The creature started pecking at Meredy, who twirled out of the way with ease. Soon, the creature tried to peck at her from above, but, when it missed again, it drove its beak into the ground, getting it stuck. Meredy smiled.

"Yeah! Go Meredy!" Everybody cheered for her. Meredy nodded and then twirled around.

"Meredy will win!" She said as she held her Craymel Cage above her head. "Absolute!" A giant chunk of ice came down upon the head of the giant creature, which fainted upon impact. Meredy cheered as the monster disappeared.

"Congratulations, you defeated the creature..." The disembodied voice said, sounding somewhat annoyed. "Just roll the freaking dice again..." Meredy did as told. She rolled a four. That was enough for her to cross the finish line! Everybody cheered loudly. "Well done, you completed the Roulette Trap... As promised, your companions will all be set free..." However, the voice failed to mention how they would be set free. The cage moved over the end zone and the bottom fell out, spilling its contents onto Meredy. Everybody was laying in a goosepile on top of her.

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Once everybody had recovered, they had moved into the next room and there was a familiar insignia on the wall of the room - one that was all over the Van Eltia. It started to glow, and a new voice started talking.

"Welcome!" It said in a deeper voice than the one that was hosting the game. "This is the voice of the legendary pirate, Aifread." Everybody was confused. If this was Aifread's voice, whose voice was that in the game? "I know what you're thinking... That was actually my first mate Cipher that you were listening to on the way here." There was a simultaneous 'aah' from everybody. "Anyways, you have overcome great obstacles to get here, and, therefore, I shall grant you my Legacy." Chat smiled widely. "Please proceed beyond this door~~~" The wall that was glowing with the insignia swung away, revealing a dock inside.

For whatever reason, the Van Eltia was already situated inside the dock. However, there was something different about it. It didn't take long before Chat gasped and started jumping for joy. "The Van Eltia!" She cried. "It's been totally refitted! Awesome!"

"So... Aifread's Legacy was just an upgrade to the Van Eltia?" Reid asked. Chat shook her head.

"There's gotta be something about this new upgrade that allows us to get to Inferia." She said, still staring at her newly upgraded ship. "Come on, let's go see inside of it!" Everybody did as they were told and entered the ship.

There were plenty of aesthetic changes to the Van Eltia, but the biggest change was the addition to a school of fish-looking things in the belly of the ship. Chat dubbed them the Aifish after Aifread and the fact that they looked like fish.

"Well, if they're fish, they should be able to swim..." Keele commented. Kyle's eyes instantly lit up when he mentioned that.

"This is it!" He yelled excitedly. "This is how I'm gonna be able to get to the bottom of the ocean to find the Sword of Destiny! Yes!" Everybody stared at him like he had three heads as he ran over to one of the Aifish and attempted to open it up.

"I think we should join him." Reid suggested, earning a harsh glare from Keele. "I mean, this Sword of Destiny thing seems to be very important to him, so we shouldn't let him go get it alone." Chat, Meredy, and Max agreed. Keele sighed with contempt.

"Fine..." He said. "Let's go get that stupid sword." Keele walked over to the Aifish that Kyle was trying to open and tapped a small button, which caused the cockpit to open. Kyle stared at Keele angrily.

"Hey!" He growled. Keele ignored him and went over to open up another of the Aifish and hopped in. Everybody stared at him. "Well, are you guys coming or not?" Everybody shrugged and they each went into one of the Aifish, wondering how they would work and what adventures they would find under the sea...

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**Author's Final Note: **FINALLY! My longest chapter yet has come to completion and the Sword of Destiny shall be found next chapter, at last! (It's Chapter 30, too!) I bet you're all anxious to see how this turns out. Well, keep your shoes on, it'll come in due time. Thanks for reading! Review, please?


	15. Chapter 30: The Sword of Destiny

**Two Destinies Chapter 30: The Sword of Destiny**

**Author's Preface: **Now THIS was a chapter I've been itching to write for a while! Nearly half of the story thus far has had Kyle without a sword. That's FINALLY going to change! Yay, he's gonna be useful in battle again! *shot* Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. :D

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The fish-shaped submarines slowly made their way through the Celestian waters, searching for anything that remotely looked like an underwater cave. Keele had discovered that the Aifish were all interconnected by built-in walkie talkies, and thus the team was using those to communicate with one another.

"So, Kyle..." Reid said. "Do you happen to remember ANYTHING from your visions that could be used as a landmark to help us?" There was a sigh on the other end of the intercom.

"Nope..." The blond said. "All I remember seeing was an underwater cave... Just rocks and water..."

"Well, let's just keep our eyes peeled for anything that looks cavelike, okay?" Chat said. There were five simultaneous grunts of agreement.

Nearly a half hour later, when everybody was starting to get bored, Meredy's cheery voice came on over the intercom.

"Meredy sees something! Meredy sees something!" She chirped. Everybody could easily imagine what was going on inside Meredy's submarine at that moment.

"Where is it?" Chat said, aiming her Aifish's headlights in every direction. Meredy aimed her sub's headlights below, which illuminated a small cave from which many fish were frantically departing from.

"All right!" Kyle cheered. "Everybody, let's go check it out!" One by one, the Aifish piled into the small outcrop and wondered what they were going to encounter within.

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Everybody had quickly departed from their Aifish, Kyle having set out from his the fastest and left everybody behind to rush into the depths of the cave. By the time everybody was out of their submarines, Kyle was long gone.

"Geez, couldn't he have waited for us?" Keele commented. "What's he in a big rush for?" Reid placed a hand on Keele's shoulder.

"Well, the Sword of Destiny's been a big deal for him ever since he first got the warning about the Darkness from Rem and Shadow, Keele." He said. "I'd be excited, too." At that moment, the mood was completely shattered by a horrific scream. Everybody gasped.

"That was Kyle's voice!" Max said, pulling out his bazooka. "Come on, let's see what's going on!" Everybody else pulled out their weapons of choice and followed Max, hurrying into the deeper part of the cave.

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Before anybody was able to see anything, a familiar voice echoed off the walls of the cave. Reid's eyes went wide. The voice belonged to one of those two minions of Darkness!

"Ha ha ha!" The voice said. "We've FINALLY captured the Child of Destiny, and his little friends are nowhere in sight~~~" The second voice from before joined the former in evil laughter.

"What a marvelous victory! Now, let's get out of this drab cave!" The latter, with her slightly higher pitched voice replied. The sound of these two voices filled Reid's entire body with adrenaline as he surged past Max, as well as everybody else, and hurried as fast as he could to get to his captured friend.

Reid hurried around a small bend in the cave and gasped at the sight within. There was a giant silver Craymel cage at the far end of the room, and, right in front of it, was Kyle, unconscious and floating in the air by means of some invisible force that was suspending the poor boy by his arms. It almost looked as if he had been crucified upon an invisible cross, and the minions of Darkness were slowly lifting him higher off of the ground, as well. Reid instantly became enraged at this sight. "**KYLE!**" He yelled at the top of his lungs. This caused the boy in question to open his hypnotized eyes and stared blankly at his friend. Reid took a deep breath and continued. "**KYLE! I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HIM!" **At this point, everybody else had entered the cave and was just watching Reid's outburst. The first voice laughed.

"I'd like to see you try, Human!" She taunted. "You can't even see us, so how will you know what to slash your pathetic little stick at? HA HA HA!"

"There's got to be a way to figure out what's going on..." Keele said, scanning the area with his Spectacles. "My Spectacles aren't picking up any readings from anywhere on the other side of this room..." The second voice laughed.

"Our magic can't be detected by mere Human technology!" She said. "There's no possible way that you can stop us! HA HA HA!" This drove Reid over the edge. He started blindly running towards his friend. Meredy called out to try and stop him.

"Reid!" She yelled. "Nobody knows how to fight the Darkness!" She said. Reid didn't skip a beat as he continued to rush forward. All of a sudden, his body froze in mid-stride. No matter what he did, Reid couldn't move a muscle.

"N-no!" He yelled as he struggled to move in vain. "I have to save Kyle! I need to save Kyle!" Reid wasn't the only one who had been frozen in place.

"Hey!" Chat yelled. "I can't move!"

"Me neither! Ugh!" Keele cried. "We've all been frozen in place!" The twin voices simultaneously laughed.

"Gee, I'd love to stay and play with you all, but we have a special delivery for our Master~~~" The first one said.

"Don't think we'll be seeing you guys again~~~" The second one taunted. After that, Kyle's eyes closed once more and his body was being flown towards the exit from the cave. Reid kept struggling to move to no avail, unaware of what was about to happen next.

"**I MUST PROTECT KYLE!**" Reid screamed at the top of his lungs. All of a sudden, his body started to levitate and glow with every color of the rainbow. In the next second, a brilliant flash of multicolored light filled the entire room. Another second later and the entire cave was filled with the screams of pain from the two minions. Reid gently descended from the air back onto his feet.

"W-what the hell was that?" The second one cried out, flabbergasted.

"I don't know!" The first said. "...But that was WAY stronger than any Human magic I've ever seen be... Aah!" At that moment, Kyle started falling out of the sky. Reid, somehow able to move again, ran over and caught Kyle before he could hit the ground. Everybody else, also able to move, started to gather around the two swordsmen.

"Dammit!" The second minion cried out. "The effects of that magic are still so very strong in this cave! We can't stay here!" This short monologue was followed by a small poofing noise as the two sisters had supposedly vanished from the cave. The other team members were all standing in close proximity in the center of the room.

"That was AMAZING!" Max called out as he nearly tackle-hugged Reid. "What exactly WAS that?"

"I think that was the Divine Aurora Arte." Keele deduced. "It was FAR stronger than any Craymel magic I've ever seen!" At that moment, Reid collapsed to his knees, still holding Kyle in his arms.

"Kyle..." He said weakly. "Are you okay?" The blonde's innocent blue eyes fluttered open upon hearing his red haired friend's soothing voice.

"Reid..." Kyle's voice was weaker than Reid's. "I'm sorry... I couldn't sense the minions of Darkness waiting for me here... I ran right into their trap..." Kyle's eyes closed. "But I'm very grateful that you were able to save me... I thought for sure... this time... I was really going to..." Kyle's voice broke off as he fell into unconsciousness. Reid chuckled.

"I'm just glad I was able to save you..." Reid said, his eyes welling up with tears of joy. In the next second, Reid fell to his side, still clutching Kyle within his arms and he too drifted into unconsciousness. Neither swordsman was aware of the voices of the others urging them to reawaken. They just lay there together, well aware and at the same time oblivious to their friendly embrace.

111111

Kyle woke up first. He found that he was lying in the cockpit of his Aifish, which was being slowly tugged along via towing cable by another Aifish. Kyle yawned, which attracted the attention of everybody else.

"Hey, which of you just woke up?" Chat's voice demanded. Kyle rubbed his eyes and groggily responded.

"It's me, Kyle..." He said, readjusting himself so that he sat comfortably within his seat. "What happened?"

"After you guys went out cold, we had to drag both of you back to the Aifishes and then we just luckily happened to find towing cables." Keele explained. "Reid's not even awake yet." Kyle blinked once.

"Really?" He said, becoming aware of his surroundings once again. "Is he okay?"

"YEAH!" Max's catchphrase was disrupted by unwanted interference which made everybody cringe.

"I think that Aurora Arte took a lot out of him." Keele said, trying to ignore Max. "I think we should just let him sleep." At that moment, a new voice came over the intercom.

"Let who sleep?" Reid's voice was accentuated by a yawn. Once he stopped yawning, he continued. "If you mean me, I'm up now..." At that moment, there was a disruption of the current mood as Chat's voice came over the intercom.

"There!" She exclaimed. "Another cave!" Chat shined the Aifish's headlights on a cave similar to the other one that they had encountered before.

"D'you think this is it?" Reid said, obviously aiming the question at Kyle.

"Could be." The blonde responded. "Let's all go inside and find out." Like before, all the Aifishes piled inside the cave to explore it.

111111

Unlike last time, Kyle had waited for everybody to come out of their Aifishes. Keele used this as a moment for snarking.

"Well, somebody's finally learned how to be patient~~~" Keele said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Kyle gave him a harsh stare.

"Shaddup..." He finally said, turning around. "Let's all head in together." The team walked closely together, Kyle at the front of the group, Reid standing right behind him and ready to put up his Aurora Wall at a moment's notice.

This cave was set up in a nearly identical manner to the other one: a giant Craymel cage was sitting on the wall opposite the entrance to the cave. However, the one thing this cave had that the other lacked was a golden sword, sticking straight out of the ground in the dead center of the room. Kyle's eyes lit up as soon as he saw the blade.

"That must be it!" He cried out. "The Sword of Destiny!" Kyle ran over towards the sword, but his pace slowed as he approached. The sword started glowing with a white aura. Kyle stopped dead in his tracks a couple paces away from the sword.

"What's going on?" Meredy wondered aloud, tilting her head in confusion.

_Waaurudu ifu Dzunsutiumuya~~~ _A monotone voice spoke in Melnics. _Yaio aenun fuumeruruya waitun~~~_ All the Inferians stared at Meredy.

"What in the world?" Reid said. "I can't understand a thing!" Meredy smiled as if she was about to translate, but it was Chat who translated for them first.

"It said 'Child of Destiny, you have finally come'." She said. Keele scratched his ear.

"Why aren't the Orz Earrings working?" He wondered. Nobody responded, seeing as none of them had any clue. Instead, they just stood and watched.

_Baururu yaio ewawanputi tsuya pewati, si tiaeti u tseya guunun yaio tsuya pudiitinwatiuimu fidinnundi?_ Kyle nodded slowly.

"Will you accept my pact, so that I may give you my protection forever?" Max was doing the translating this time. The word 'pact' echoed in Reid's mind as he awaited the next part.

"U ewawanputi tian pewati." He said in Melnics, which caused a bit of surprise amongst his friends.

"Umm..." Meredy stuttered a bit before translating. "Kyle said 'I accept the pact'." Everybody stared at Kyle.

_Tianmu dinsuti yaiodi aemudu opimu tsuya pimumunru emudu dinwanunun tsuya burunsusuumugu~~~ _Kyle silently took another couple steps forward and extended his right hand over the jewel upon the pommel of the sword and lightly touched it, causing both him and the sword to brightly glow. A second later, Kyle began yelling at the top of his lungs in pain, which instantly worried everybody as to what was going on under the blinding light. However, the yelling faded, and then so did the light. Kyle was still standing with his hand on the sword's pommel when he came back into view. However, his neck was glowing white with the outline of what looked like a fancy tattoo of delicate angel wings.

A second later, Kyle's hand moved from the pommel of the sword slowly down to the grip of the sword, around which he gingerly wrapped his fingers. He then slowly withdrew the sword from its resting place in the ground and held it in front of his face for a couple of seconds before thrusting the blade up into the air. It was at this moment that everybody went to gather around Kyle, who was staring dumbfounded at his new weapon. Reid stared at the Sword of Destiny in awe, as it was far more exquisite than his Excalibur was.

"Wow..." He said. "That sure is a beautiful sword..." Kyle nodded.

"Yeah..." The boy's eyes glimmered with the same color as the sapphire gem embedded within the blade. "I can't believe that this is really mine..." Without warning, Kyle started whipping around his new sword with ease as if he was fencing with some invisible enemy with a sword he had been using for years. "Ya! Ha! Azure Edge!" A brilliant blue projectile quickly flew through the air and just as quickly vanished.

"Baiba!" Meredy said. "Kyle is stronger than ever before!"

"Indeed." Noted Keele. "Seems your sword skills haven't gotten too rusty after all this time without a blade..."

"Well, you've finally done it..." Reid said, inadvertently resting his arm on Kyle's shoulder. "You've finally got the Sword of Destiny~~~" Just then, Kyle's head quickly whipped around to face Reid, but, instead of it having an expression of pain, it instead contained surprised happiness.

"Reid!" He said. "Your hand! It isn't causing me any more pain! I'm cured!" Kyle practically tackled Reid at that moment with a celebratory hug. Reid smiled as he held the younger swordsman protectively in his arms.

"Hate to break the mood, guys..." Keele said. Everybody stared at him. "But does anybody know what we should do now?"

"Yeah, let's make sure these things don't kill us!" Max spun around and fired a couple of missiles behind him. Everybody faced in the direction where Max was firing. Two giant black shadowy creatures were slowly moving in their direction. They staggered a little upon being hit by Max's attacks, but were otherwise unharmed. Kyle ran over to Max's side, pointing his new sword at the enemies.

"Lemme take care of this!" He said, looking back for a second. Before anybody could say otherwise, Kyle ran off towards the oncoming enemies. Before they could touch him, Kyle jumped up into the air. "Havoc Drop(1)!" He cried as he reached the apex of the jump. His sword came down upon the first of the two shadows and sliced it in half. The two halves seemed to slowly melt afterward. The second shadow lunged at Kyle, only managing to grab his left arm. Everybody else gasped.

"Kyle!" Reid yelled, running towards him. Only a short while ago had been the last instance of the Darkness' attack, and Reid was still in no mood to let the Darkness kidnap his friend. However, Reid's help was hardly needed.

"Let go!" He yelled as he tried to yank his arm back from the enemy's clutches. When the dark tendrils started wrapping around his arm tighter and more times around to prevent his escape, Kyle stopped struggling and started sword fighting. "No you don't!" He yelled before the Sword of Destiny quickly sliced through the dark figure's imprisoning tendrils and he jumped away. The dark mass around his arm quickly evaporated like water on a hot day once it was detached from its host. Reid stopped instantly when he saw that Kyle had saved himself.

"Wow..." He commented to himself. "That sword is really strong..."

"Azure Storm!" Kyle yelled as he slashed at the darkness three times before letting loose a glowing Azure Edge. The enemy vanished instantly upon impact. Kyle struck a victory pose. "Let that be a lesson to you, Darkness! I am protected by..." At that instant, Kyle's voice suddenly stopped. His right arm slowly shrank back to his side, and his voice once again picked up, but in a monotone key.

"You..." Kyle said slowly. "You with the holy power of Aurora... Come forward to me." Everybody stared at Reid. After exchanging a couple glances with everybody, he gingerly walked toward Kyle. When he was a few paces away, he stopped. Kyle turned around to face Reid. His eyes were empty, but glowing a deeper blue than usual.

"Kyle?" Reid said once he had noticed Kyle's eye change. "Are you all right?"

"I am the Sword of Destiny." Kyle continued in the monotone. "This is the only way I can speak to you, since you lack the ability to become a Swordian Master..." Reid became confused.

"Swordian Master?" He asked. "What's a Swordian?" The Sword of Destiny did not address the subject again when it continued speaking.

"I am entrusting this child's protection within your capable hands, Bearer of the Divine Aurora." It said. "Your sole mission is to ensure this child lives long enough to have his sixteenth birthday..."

"What happens on his sixteenth birthday?" Keele asked from farther back.

"The plans of the Lord of Darkness become foiled. If the Child of Destiny is killed before his sixteenth birthday by the hands of the Lord of Darkness, he will claim a terrible power and use it to drag the universe into his realm of everlasting darkness..." Everybody gasped.

"How horrible!" Meredy exclaimed.

"This is a mission of utmost importance." The Sword of Destiny continued. "Failure is not an option." At that moment, Kyle's eyes returned to their normal state for a split second before they closed and he fell forward into Reid's arms. Reid scooped up the unconscious child and held him in his arms.

"I accept the mission." Reid said quietly. "Kyle will not die while he is under my protection... I will ensure he has his sixteenth birthday before the Lord of Darkness can kill him..."

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**Author's Final Note: **Well, things are sure becoming more interesting now... Ooh, I can't WAIT to write the next part! (Even if it's gonna be a ToD2 part) I hope you guys are just as excited to read as I am to write! Thanks for reading! Leave reviews, please~~~ ^_^

One footnote for anybody's whose forgotten: (1) Havoc Drop is Kuushouzan. :3


	16. Chapter 31: Rescue from the Tower

**Two Destinies Chapter 31: Rescue from the Tower**

**Author's Preface: **As much as I want to continue with the Eternia side of the story, I think a ToD2 part is really overdue. Poor Farah and Loni need a bit more face time… *murdered by Judas, Nanaly, and Harold* Anyways, enjoy this chapter while awaiting the next ToE one! *shot*

**Also, just a warning: This chapter contains a bit of coarse language. Read at your discretion. I find the spot where it's used as justified. You'd probably swear too if you were completely pissed off. :P *shot***

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The sky over the small city was brilliantly lit with many different colors being painted on by the magnificent power of the Eternal Aurora. The sky seemed to be swimming with the magic, and everybody was staring at the sky. Even the heroes were totally entranced by it.

"Ooh~~~" Harold said. "This aurora sure looks far more magical than it did from a distance~~~ I must study it up closer!"

"Well, now that we're here, what do you suppose we do, Loni?" Nanaly inquired, looking at the silver haired man.

"I personally think we should take a cue from Harold and try to get up closer to the Aurora…"

_An Aurora…_ Farah thought, looking at the sky. _The last time I saw an Aurora was right before I ended up here in this world… I wonder if…_

"Hey, Farah!" Nanaly called out, snapping the green haired martial artist out of her thoughts. "Are you coming with us or not?"

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Farah said, rushing towards her new companions, still thinking about the aurora glowing above them.

As the heroes came closer to the tower that the Aurora's core was directly shining over, they all heard a familiar voice. "The Aurora has the power to create miracles!" A commandeering female voice was shouting out. "However, the Aurora will not any grant wishes unless it can gather enough power from Lenses! The Aurora has not NEARLY enough power to create miracles yet! It needs more Lens power!" Sure enough, once they got close enough, the heroes were able to see a woman in a white robe with a very large regal looking hat. People were practically throwing Lenses at her, and a smile comparable to poisoned honey illuminated her face.

"Really? Auroras in your world have the power to create miracles?" Farah asked.

"For some reason, I highly doubt it." Judas said quietly. "It smells like a scam to me…"

"Then why don't we bust this scam wide open?" Farah said, punching one of her fists into the other. "I can't stand to see people giving away their hard-earned money for nothing!" She started to make her way through the crowd.

"W-wait a second, Farah!" Loni said as he tried to fight his way through the crowd to stop Farah from doing something stupid, but when he finally had caught up with her, she was standing at the front of the crowd, staring right up at Elraine, ready to yell her head off. Loni didn't want to draw too much attention to himself, so he blended into the crowd, hoping that Elraine wouldn't see him.

"Stop this scam right now!" She yelled. Many people gasped and stepped away from her. Loni facepalmed as he saw Elraine's smile slide off her face like molasses. "What you're doing is not right! The Aurora doesn't have any such power to create miracles, and it certainly doesn't need Lens to create those miracles!" A bolt of lightning came down near Farah as she jumped aside.

"Silence!" Elraine yelled. "How DARE you claim that I am incorrect! I am the one who is bringing salvation to this world, and you are rejecting it?" At that moment, Elraine shot a nasty look at the crowd and just happened to pick out Loni's face amongst the people gathered. Loni noticed that Elraine's evil gaze was fixated upon him and he stepped forward, no longer needing to hide. "You…" She said darkly. "So this girl's a replacement for your late friend Kyle, is she?" Loni whipped out his poleaxe, outraged.

"She's not a replacement for Kyle!" He yelled, brandishing the weapon around, much to the fear of some of the villagers. Farah clenched her fists.

"And Kyle's not dead, either!" She yelled. Elraine's eyes widened a little.

"What do you mean, he's not dead?" Elraine raged. "Barbatos explicitly told me that he had killed that damned child, and that girl Reala also was convinced that he was killed!" Loni's eyes grew wide.

_So Elraine must have Reala captured somewhere within this tower... _He deduced. _Dammit, looks like we've got to find our way into the tower to rescue her..._ At that moment, as if on cue, there was a ear splitting noise as fireballs, torrential rain, sudden wind shears, and stalactites from hammer space started plummeting out of the sky. People were running away from the tower, completely terrified. Elraine looked up at the top of the tower to see that the delicate glowing tendrils of light from the aurora were transforming into dangerous magic.

"You got lucky this time!" Elraine raged. "If it wasn't for this disaster right now, I'd kill you both!" And with that, Elraine ran into the tower, supposedly to head for the top of the tower in order to calm the magic storm down. However, she had left the entrance to the tower wide open. The rest of the team ran over to Loni and Farah, dodging the strange magical "weather" coming out of the sky. As soon as they had all gathered around, Nanaly slapped Loni in the face.

"What the hell are you doing?" She yelled. "Are you TRYING to get the rest of us killed?" After a moment of shock, Loni recovered and shook his head before trying to yell to everybody over the torrential rain.

"Guys!" He yelled, pointing at the tower behind him. "I think Reala might be somewhere in this building!" Judas crossed his arms.

"You don't need to yell so loud." He chastised. Loni shot Judas a cynical look. Nanaly's eyebrows raised.

"Wait, you said that Reala is in the tower?" She said. "But didn't Reala get sent away to another world?" Farah looked down.

"Actually, Barbatos had come to my world and he took Reala away." She said. Everybody looked at her like she had three heads. "He must have brought Reala back to this world, and, like Loni said, she might very well be locked up in this tower."

"Well, seeing as there's nobody preventing us from going in, I say we should go in~~~" Harold suggested. Judas sighed.

"You just want to go up and examine the aurora, don't you?" Harold turned and gave Judas a smile, but said nothing. Judas shot a nasty glare in return, but also said nothing.

"Come on, let's just go into the tower and see if we can find Reala!" Loni encouraged as he took a step through the dark doorway. The others followed him in.

111111

It was nearly impossible to see anything in the tower. The only light was from a bunch of windows that only a small amount of light could get through because the sky had suddenly become very dark despite being in the middle of the day. The team was ascending the steps quickly when, all of a sudden, Farah missed a step and started to fall. Nanaly grabbed her hand and lifted the green haired martial artist back to her feet. "You okay?" Nanaly asked as her friend recovered from the near fall. Farah nodded in return, staring into Nanaly's purple eyes, and then, a second later, toward a patch of light up ahead.

"I think there's something up ahead!" Farah said. "There's something glowing from that room!" Everybody looked in the direction that Farah was pointing and, sure enough, they all saw a glow up ahead.

"We should stay on our guards in case it's a trap." Judas said, arms crossed. "We have no idea what's around..." Judas looked again and saw that Loni was just inches from turning the corner. Judas tapped his foot irritably as Loni rolled his eyes.

"Aaah, stop being so stuffy, Judas!" Loni shot back. "Everything's gonna be..." He paused as he looked around the corner. "Whoa... What the hell?"

"What is it?" Nanaly asked, hurrying up to where Loni was standing. She too gasped as she looked into the room. "Oh my goodness..."

"Nanaly, could you tell us what it is?" Farah asked. Nanaly blinked twice, then spoke up again.

"It's... Reala..." She said in amazement. Farah gasped and ran up the stairs to where Loni and Nanaly were standing and she too stood in amazement at what she saw around the corner.

Reala had her eyes closed, like she was asleep, with her delicate hands cradling the Lens pendant in her hands. She was floating off the ground a couple centimeters and seemed to be glowing with a red, blue, yellow, and green aura - the same colors that the aurora that was going berserk had been glowing. Loni took few steps towards her.

"...Reala?" He asked quietly as he approached. "Reala, are you okay?" There was no response from the floating girl. Nanaly and Farah were behind him, standing on either side of the silver haired man.

"Reala... Please wake up..." Farah said, somewhat relieved to see that Reala was still okay considering what condition she had last seen the magical girl in. A voice from behind startled her.

"So... Reala really WAS here..." Judas said, standing guard near the doorway. Harold walked forward towards Reala.

"Ooh, what an interesting aura~~~" She commented. "It seems to be a lot like that aurora that's shining above this tower..." Nanaly cleared her voice.

"Guys, this place is starting to give me the creeps..." She said. "Let's take Reala and get out of here before anybody realizes that we're here..."

"It might be a little too late for that!" Judas said as he pulled out his sword and dagger and conjured up a Stone Zapper spell to launch at something he heard in the distance. Everybody turned around and pulled out their weapons in response. There was a brief pause of silence before a dark, evil laughter pierced the air. Everybody knew who the laughter belonged to.

"EXECUTION!" was the next thing they heard. The spell was aimed at Judas, who instantly put up Guardian in response and ended up pretty much unscathed by the spell. The next second had Loni yelling at the user of the spell that had been used against Judas.

"Barbatos!" He yelled. "Show yourself!" He and the other ladies around him barely had enough time to react when they heard the large, dark skinned man's voice call out yet another attack.

"GENOCIDE BRAVER!" Barbatos yelled as a large blast of energy surged toward where Loni, Farah, Nanaly, and Harold had been standing just a second before. At that moment, Loni gasped as he realized that the beam was headed for Reala and looked back to see if she was still okay. However, to his amazement, the aura around Reala grew stronger and absorbed Barbatos' Arte, leaving her unscathed. The aura then faded back to its usual strength after the beam had subsided. At this point, the tall villain had entered the room, axe at the ready. There was a second of standoff before Nanaly spoke up first.

"You..." She said, pointing her bow at the intimidating villain in front of her. "What did you and Elraine do to Reala?" Barbatos chuckled evilly.

"What you see is all because of her..." He said darkly, not moving a muscle. "It was her Lens that went berserk and left her in that sleep-like state. Of course, Elraine's spell may have helped things along~~~"

"Dammit!" Loni spat, quickly getting annoyed. "Get out of our way! We're taking Reala back!" Barbatos laughed loudly.

"Ha ha ha! You fool!" He yelled. "You're just as powerless against me as you were back ten years ago..." Everybody looked at Loni like he had four heads. Loni's blood was boiling.

"Shut up!" He yelled, brandishing his poleaxe. "Do NOT bring that up with me!"

"Wait, what happened ten years ago?" Nanaly asked, looking between Loni and Barbatos, completely confused. Barbatos scoffed.

"It was because of this powerless fool that the great hero Stahn Aileron was killed by me..." The towering villain sounded smug as he revealed this detail. "It was also because of him that his little friend Kyle Dunamis was sent to another world, where I eventually left him in a state where he couldn't possibly have survived..." Farah shook her head.

"You're wrong!" She yelled. "Kyle's alive and well! He was revived and he still lives!" Barbatos' smug smile faded as he glared at Farah, recognizing her from their past encounter in the cave where he had eventually taken Reala.

"You..." He said. "You're one of those pathetic worms from that other world... What are you doing in THIS world?" Farah shook her head.

"I don't know..." She said. "I guess it was meant to be my destiny to be here... to defeat the likes of you!" At that point, Farah rushed at the gigantic man and started launching a slew of powerful martial arts attacks at him, most of which Barbatos deflected with his axe or by his sheer strength. He eventually grabbed her foot when it was just centimeters from his face and flung her backwards. Farah easily recovered in midair, however, and landed in front of Loni, who was seething with anger but had not moved yet.

"Farah!" Nanaly yelled. "Harold and I will back you up! You just keep going at him!" The ginger archer turned to face Harold, who nodded and started to charge up a magic attack as Nanaly started firing a slew of arrows at Barbatos. Farah ran back in and started punching and kicking at Barbatos once more. Judas stared at Loni.

"Are you just going to stand there?" He asked, arms crossed. Loni clenched his fist that wasn't wrapped around his poleaxe.

"I'm preparing a powerful spell..." He lied, rage building more and more. Barbatos calling him out like that had hit a sensitive nerve.

"Fools!" Barbatos yelled as he stood nearly unaffected by all the punches, kicks, arrows, and spells thrown at him. "You'll NEVER defeat me! You're all POWERLESS!" The last word sent Loni over the edge. He yelled at the top of his lungs in complete outrage.

"**SHUT THE FUCK UP!**" Loni wasn't in the mood for using euphemisms. He was seriously pissed off. Even his poleaxe glowed with his pure anger. "**I'LL KILL YOU FOR SAYING THOSE THINGS!**" Loni ran over to where Barbatos was standing before the larger man had realized that Loni was standing right next to him. "**TAKE THIS RAGING FLURRY OF HITS! MY STRIKING...**" A bolt of energy struck. "**SHEARING...**" Loni sliced vertically at Barbatos with the power of a wind sheer. "**SLAMMING...**" Loni struck Barbatos right in the stomach with the tip of his poleaxe. "**SLICING...**" Loni forced his poleaxe upward with enough force to bring Barbatos into the air. "**SPARKLING...**" At the top of the jump, Loni's poleaxe sparkled with more electricity, forcing Barbatos to fall down hard while Loni prepared for the final part of his attack. "**ELEMENTAL... CONQUEST!**(1)" Loni's poleaxe came down hard upon Barbatos, erupting in flames around the larger man. After his attack had finished, Loni jumped back to admire the results of his Mystic Arte. Barbatos staggered to his feet, glaring with all his hatred at the man who had just performed a Mystic Arte on him.

"You..." Barbatos said slowly. "You may have won today, Loni Dunamis... but rest assured... I WILL hunt you all down and I WILL reclaim Reala... And I'll be sure that YOUR death is _extra_ painful to repay for what you did to me today..." At that moment, Barbatos disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. Right after Barbatos disappeared, Loni dropped his poleaxe and fell to his knees, breathing heavily. Nanaly and Farah instantly ran over to help him.

"Hey!" Nanaly shouted. "Are you okay, Loni?" Loni uttered a weak chuckle.

"Yeah, I'll be fine..." He said, looking up at Nanaly. "Just as long as I see your beautiful face when I finally wake up..." At that moment, Nanaly wanted to slap Loni, but he fainted before she could get her hands on him. Instead, Nanaly sighed as Farah got to work using her healing Artes on the unconscious man.

"You're gonna pay when you wake up, you know that?" She said gently, crossing her arms and becoming lost in thought. _If not only because I'm worried about you..._

"My my..." Harold's voice broke the affectionate mood. "I wonder if there's any way to... Ooh, what a interesting looking Lens~~~" Harold was admiring Reala's Lens pendant and was about to touch it.

"...Harold?" Judas spoke up as he stared at the genius scientist. "You might not want to..." At that moment, Harold did exactly what Judas was about to warn her not to do before he could finish speaking. She touched the pendant, which made a soft ringing noise that hung about on the air after being touched. When the ringing faded, Reala stopped floating in the air and descended softly onto the ground. A second later, the Holy Child opened her soft brown eyes and her hands fell to her sides. She and Harold exchanged blank glances for a few brief seconds before Reala started looking around the room, her eyes almost immediately falling upon the unconscious man on the ground.

"Loni!" She yelled softly, running over to him and kneeling before him. "Loni, are you all right?" Nanaly and Farah smiled upon seeing that Reala was all right.

"He's gonna be just fine~~~" Nanaly said, grinning at Reala. "He just needs a bit of rest, that's all." Reala turned her gaze towards Nanaly.

"Nanaly!" She gasped. "I haven't seen you in such a long time~~~"

"Not since you were sent to Eternia, have you?" Farah said, also smiling widely. Reala quickly turned her head upon hearing Farah's voice.

"Farah?" Reala said, instantly recognizing the green haired martial artist. "What are you doing in this world?" Farah shrugged.

"I don't quite know..." She said. "I'm guessing I was sent here to help your friends out..." At that moment, Reala gasped and then nearly tackled Farah.

"Kyle!" She demanded. "Where is Kyle?" Farah stared up at Reala but said nothing. After a couple seconds, Reala returned to her feet and staggered backwards. "...No... All that time ago... He really DID die, didn't he?" Farah quickly shot to her feet and placed her hands on Reala's shoulders before the smaller girl had a chance to start crying.

"No!" Farah said. "Kyle's NOT dead! He was brought back to life! He's perfectly fine!" Reala gasped happily. "Unfortunately, he's still back on Eternia... I don't know why I was sent here instead of him..." Reala's eyes instantly saddened up again.

"Oh no..." She said softly. "Then that means... Are there any other ways remaining for Kyle to get home and for you to return to Eternia?" Farah sighed.

"I don't know..." She said, looking into Reala's eyes. "But I sure hope so..." _Or else I'm stuck on this world forever..._

**Author's Final Note: **Well, this was sure an interesting chapter... I definitely have more interest in writing more to this arc now~~~ (Mind you, this will by no means be nowhere near as long as the Eternia arc, but I sure plan to have it at a pretty sensible length...) I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I did writing it. ^^ Reviews, pwease? *shot*

Time for a footnote: (1) This is my homemade fanslation of the RIDICULOUSLY long Hi-Ougi known as _Shinten Rekku Zankou Senpuu Messai Shinbatsu Katsatsugeki_. Upon receiving a suggestion from somebody, I turned each part of the attack into a one word description of what was going on during that part of the Hi-Ougi. It also turned out to almost be a pretty damned good alliteration up until I actually gave the name I'm calling the entirety of it by: Elemental Conquest. :3 One more time just to see it all together, that's "Striking Shearing Slamming Slicing Sparkling Elemental Conquest". :D (Wow, my fanslation is longer than the official Japanese... XD *shot*) Thoughts on how I pulled it off? :3


	17. Chapter 32: The Show MUST Go On!

**Two Destinies Chapter 32: The Show MUST Go On!**

**Author's Preface: **Here's a bit of a more lighthearted chapter and it's more like a side quest than an actual story event. Now, at the end of this chapter, you can imagine each character either having changed back to their normal outfit or you can imagine them wearing these alternate costumes... I'm not going to write anything that says whether they changed out of their stage costumes or not, so it's up to your imagination. Enjoy!

Oh, and one more thing: _**I FINALLY HAVE TALES OF DESTINY 2!**_ The game is completely amazing, I love it so much. It's also giving me a bit more insight to the characters (which, surprisingly, I've been describing pretty well even without the game) and a LOT more information about the story line. In fact, I already passed the point where this story was supposed to begin instead of the canon story on the game. :3 Hope I can beat this game pretty quickly... XD

* * *

The Aifishes slowly swam across the bottom of Celestia's ocean floor, scanning for anything that might be of interest. The Aifish that Kyle usually piloted was being tugged along by a towing cable that attached his sub to Reid's, and the blonde swordsman lay unconscious inside. Chat was at the front of the group, sweeping her headlights in every direction to find anything of interest. They had been aimlessly sailing for a while, when, all of a sudden, a strange noise came over the intercom. It sounded a lot like somebody's stomach growling.

"Ugh, I'm SO hungry!" Reid complained. "I haven't eaten anything in ages! Can we go up to the surface to look for something to eat?" Keele groaned.

"It's ALWAYS about you and your stomach, Reid..." He said. "Can't you stop complaining about your stomach every couple of hours?"

"Please do not argue, Reid and Keele!" Meredy implored. "Meredy does not like it when you two fight..."

"She's not the only one..." Max said. "Don't make me give you two a punch to the shoulder~~~" Both Reid and Keele did NOT want a shoulder punch from Max.

"A-all right, we'll stop arguing!" Reid and Keele said simultaneously. Reid laughed.

"Jinx!" He said. "You owe me a drink, Keele!" The scholar groaned from his submarine.

"Ugh, why do I ALWAYS have to get the drink..." He whined. After that, Keele started grumbling incoherently, but everybody could easily imagine what was being said. A moment later, a tired groan broke the relative silence.

"...Ngggh..." Kyle groaned. "...What just happened? Why is my head killing me? Oww..." Reid chuckled.

"Glad you could join us, sleepyhead~~~" He laughed. "You've been out cold for at least an hour..." Kyle sighed.

"An hour? The last thing I remember is defeating those Darkness things... The next thing I know, I'm sitting in an Aifish with a nasty headache... Ugh... I feel ill..."

"Hmm..." Chat commented. "Maybe we SHOULD go up to the surface where some fresh air might help Kyle out with his..." At that moment, Meredy interrupted her.

"Look!" She shouted. "A cave!" Keele sighed.

"Another cave?" He said. "Do we really have any reason to go into all these caves?" Reid chuckled.

"Aww, c'mon, Keele~~~" He said. "What are you so afraid of?" Keele coughed.

"Well, in both of the caves that we went into had those minions of Darkness in them..." Kyle laughed, cutting him off.

"Don't worry about the Darkness, Keele!" He said gleefully. "I can easily take care of the Darkness with my Sword of Destiny~~~ It'll be a piece of... Ugh..." The sound of Kyle falling back into his seat echoed over the intercom.

"I say we should try it." Chat said. "What's the risk? Worse comes to worse, we have to fight the Darkness again, and, if Kyle's too ill to use his sword to fight the Darkness, Reid can use the Aurora Artes, right Reid?" Reid didn't respond. The lesson from the First Trial of Seyfert was echoing in his head: he wasn't supposed to use the Aurora Artes so frequently. He wondered if what he was using it for was a justifiable reason. Just then, Kyle's voice came over the intercom.

"Reid? Are we going to follow the others or not?" He said sickly. "They all just went into the cave..." Reid snapped back to reality and floored the gas. The Aifish rocketed off towards the entrance of the cave as both Reid and Kyle's screams became the only things that could be heard on the intercom. They rocketed off ahead of everybody else, despite everybody yelling for them to slow down.

A couple seconds later, Reid had finally stepped off the gas and his Aifish slowed to a stop. Kyle's Aifish rammed into Reid's from behind and both of them shook violently. After the shaking ceased, Reid groaned.

"Hey, Kyle... You okay?" He asked. There was the sound of a moan on the intercom.

"Ugh..." Kyle complained. "I feel even SICKER now... Urp... Dammit, is there a barf bag in this..."

"DON'T YOU DARE THROW UP IN THE AIFISH!" Chat yelled. "I'm NOT cleaning it up!"

"Baiba!" Meredy said. "What's that?" Meredy's headlights shined past Reid and Kyle's Aifishes towards a yellow light in the distance.

"A way out of here?" Keele said. "I wonder where it leads..."

"Let's find out, kay?" Reid said as he started up his Aifish again. By the time he was able to move again, the others had caught up with him and they all together headed toward the light in the distance.

About a minute later, the submarines came up above the water and in front of a brightly lit town. The stars twinkled above. "Aww man! It's night already?" Keele complained.

"Let's just get out and check out the town..." Chat suggested. A few minutes later, everybody had climbed out of their Aifishes at the dock and stared at their surroundings.

"This town seems to be surrounded by mountains..." Keele noted. "The tunnel we just came through seems to be the only other option to get here besides flying..." Meredy gasped and twirled around.

"Meredy now knows where we are!" She said, giddy. "We are in Jini, the City of Joy!"

"YEAH! Awesome!" Max shouted. "This place is well known for its festive night life!" Reid chuckled.

"Well, I guess we're lucky that we arrived at night, then, right?" He said. Everybody except Keele nodded. Keele sighed.

"Well, so much for getting any sleep tonight..." He said.

"Let's take a look around, then!" Kyle said. "Come on!" Everybody (even the reluctant Keele) followed him into the middle of the town.

As everybody was taking all the bright lights and smells, a shrill voice pierced the night. "NOOOOOOO!" The voice said. "B-b-but the show MUST go on!" The person then started blubbering, making any other words inaudible. The team, intrigued, went over to see what was going on, when they heard another voice.

"I'm sorry, but they were having problems getting here, so they cancelled..." The second voice said. After turning a corner, the team saw two Celestian men, one on the ground, sobbing, the other standing facing the other. The first one gasped loudly and spoke up again.

"But so many people are going to..." He sniffled. "...WANT THEIR MONEY BACK! WAAAAAH!" The second man sighed while listening to this other man's drivel.

"Well, if you can find six suitable actors and get them stage-ready in an hour, the show can STILL go on..." At that moment, Meredy gasped.

"Baiba!" She said. "There are six of us!" The two men looked at Meredy, and the one on the ground shot up to his feet and ran over to them and grabbed Reid's hands enthusiastically.

"...Perfect, perfect... BRILLIANT!" He yelled, his demeanor changing instantly. "You're all PERFECT for the necessary roles in my play! Hurry, come with me! We must get you all ready quickly! The show MUST go on!" And with that, he took off, towing Reid along with him. The others were forced to follow.

* * *

In what seemed like seconds later, each of the heroes were shoved into separate rooms and forced to brightly colored costumes that were drastically different than what they normally wore. They were also given scripts and were forced to read and memorize them for the upcoming show that they were supposed to be a part of. Fortunately for them, most of the story was being narrated (by some other Celestian that they didn't know), so they didn't have much in the way of lines. So, an hour later, the show was ready to go on. It was completely dark when they all left the dressing rooms, so nobody could see one another's costumes. It was at that moment that Reid was shoved onto the stage first as the show began...

_Once upon a time, there was a knight in golden armor..._

Sure enough, Reid was decked out in brightly colored, decorative golden armor over a blue full body suit. This armor hardly looked any good for battling. Then again, his normal outfit didn't do much in the way of protecting, either...

_The golden knight lived in a castle, where he was the bravest and strongest of the fair princess' royal guard._

"Oh, my hero!" Meredy's voice called out from behind Reid. He turned around to face her. Meredy was decked out in a long light blue and white dress with golden rings in her fluffy purple hair. After staring at her for a second, Reid said his lines.

"My dear princess!" He said powerfully. "I shall protect you from anything that should ever threaten you!" Meredy blushed.

_But what they did NOT know is that an evil knight was out to kidnap the princess. He was willing to do everything to get the princess to marry him, even if it meant kidnapping her from her castle..._

_An evil knight, eh?_ Reid thought. _I wonder who's playing that role? I have a hunch that it's Max... Keele couldn't pull off a role like that, and Kyle... _At that moment, Reid realized that everybody was staring at him to give his next line. After briefly sweatdropping, he walked over to Meredy and pretended to kiss her hand (because actually doing so would probably set off the fibril reaction, or so he feared). "Farewell, dear princess... I shall see you in the morning..." Reid walked offstage, listening for his next cue.

_But it was that very night that the evil knight had decided to attack the castle. He sent in his finest soldiers to infiltrate the castle and take the princess. _(Meredy took this cue as an opportunity to gently roll off her "bed" onto the mat below.) _It was all done while the golden knight was asleep. The next morning, the golden knight stumbled onto the unfortunate news... _Hearing his cue, Reid walked back onto the stage and looked at where Meredy had "vanished" and gave a fake gasp.

"The princess!" He cried. "Oh, my dear princess! Where have you been taken?" He walked over to where Meredy had been sitting just prior, though he knew that Meredy was back stage, having snuck off after falling off the bed.

_Upon the bed, the knight found a message specifically written out to him from the evil knight himself. It read... _At that moment, the voice of the narrator changed to something a bit higher pitched, but sounded nothing like neither Max, Keele, nor Kyle. At the same time, it sounded like it really was a completely different person than the narrator who was talking.

"_Dear Mr. Golden Knight... While you slept the night away, my minions broke into the castle and took your princess! Don't plan on ever seeing her again, for I shall marry your princess and she shall forever live in my castle!" _Reid tried to ever so convincingly trick the audience into thinking that he was reading a scroll with those words on it, but, in reality, it was a blank prop. He then reached down and took out Excalibur and thrust it into the air as he prepared to say his next lines. Before he did, though, he overheard a conversation backstage.

"Who gave him THAT prop?" A male voice said.

"That's not a prop..." Keele's voice was highly recognizable even at a distance. "That's a real sword..."

"WHAT?" The first voice said. "But that's DANGEROUS! What if another actor gets hurt?" Ignoring them, Reid continued.

"The evil knight shall NEVER marry the princess! She should have the choice to be with whomever she wants, and I shall see to it that she is saved!" _Good lord, that line was so cheesy, _he thought. Reid, in his mind, could easily hear Kyle complaining about the fact that a hero wouldn't really say something like that, but no complaints came. Instead, the narrator's voice continued the story.

_And so, the golden knight set off to rescue his princess from the clutches of the evil knight. Along the way, he fought off many of the minions of the evil knight, including a ferocious lion..._

...Ferocious was an overstatement. The lion was actually Chat in a lion suit, but her lion suit looked more cute and cuddly than ferocious. Reid couldn't help but want to laugh. Some people in the audience actually did. Chat grumbled.

"Why did I get stuck in this stupid thing?" She said under her breath. "Everybody else got nice costumes and I got this... Peh!" Reid couldn't help but chuckle now. He got a death stare from Chat and instantly stopped.

"Laugh one more time and I'll rip you to shreds, Reid..." She threatened. "I don't care if this stupid fur doesn't really have claws... I'll find some other way to tear from limb to limb..." Reid smiled.

"Ha! A lion! What a joke!" He said in his stage persona, half directed at Chat. This sent the pirate girl over the edge.

"I'll give YOU a joke!" She snarled under her breath. "RAWRR!" She yelled aloud as she pounced onto Reid. The surprised hunter started wrestling with her for a little bit before throwing her off to the side. Quickly, she rebounded back at him, but Reid poked her in the head with the tip of his sword lightly, which was supposed to be her cue to fall down 'dead'. Surprisingly, she followed the stage cue and hit the stage with a thud. Reid then started to wonder if the entire schpeal he just went through was all just a stage act. The narrator continued as the lights fell upon Reid and changed focus to the other side of the stage, where Meredy stood "tied up" to a wooden pole.

_The stubborn princess kept refusing to marry the evil knight, claiming that she was already in love with another. After so many attempts at persuading her gently, the evil knight decided that the best thing to do was to try and torture an acceptance out of the princess... _Max then stepped into the light, wearing a black outfit that looked more like an executioner's outfit than a torturer's. Reid gasped quietly when he saw that Max was playing this role and not the role of the evil knight.

"HA HA HA!" Max's voice boomed. It was picked up by the microphone hanging from his outfit and multiplied two fold, which caused every speaker in the room to ring with feedback. Everybody cringed and put their hands on their ears (except the unfortunate Meredy, whose hands were tied behind her back and Max himself, who was apparently immune to the feedback.) "I WILL MAKE IT SO THAT YOU SHALL AGREE TO MY MASTER'S DEMANDS!" Once again, Max's powerful voice was over-amplified and yet again, everybody was forced to cringe.

"Max!" Meredy hissed so that only Max could hear. "Take off the microphone! It's hurting Meredy's ears!" Max gave her an empty look for a second before whispering (though loudly enough so that his microphone transmitted his whisper to the entire audience).

"Oh, okay... I'll take it off..." Max took off the microphone and tossed it aside, which landed with a thud and even more feedback as it hit the floor. Cue more cringing. At least everybody knew that it was the end of that now that the microphone had been discarded. Meredy knew that the audience needed to get back into the story, so she picked up with her next line.

"Aaaaaaah, somebody help me!" She said. "I cannot withstand this torture!" Reid chuckled at the implication that Max's feedback nightmare had been a part of the story all along. Max blinked once, and then understood what was going on.

"Then you must swear to marry my master!" He said, sufficiently loud enough for the audience to hear even without a microphone. "That is the only way I will free you from your bondage!"

"I swear!" She said. "Just spare me the pain~~~" And with that, Meredy pretended to faint. The narrator continued.

_The golden knight was running out of time. If he did not arrive at the evil knight's castle before the princess was forced against her will to marry the evil knight, then his mission would be a failure. However, right at the entrance of the castle, he was stopped..._ Much to Reid's surprise, two actual fireballs rained down near his feet.

"The hell?" He said to himself. A second later, a voice rang out.

"Aqua Edge!" It was the sound of Keele's voice. He was using actual Craymel magic! That wasn't in the script at all!

"Keele!" Reid whispered loudly. "You're not supposed to use actual Craymel magic!" Keele sighed.

"I was having costume troubles!" He whispered back. "This stupid costume wasn't cooperating, so I spent a good part of that hour we had trying to fix it! I had no time to look at my lines!"

"Then ad lib or something!" Reid hissed. "Just don't kill me with Craymels!" Keele growled for a split second.

"You shall die here, trespasser!" Keele said somewhat quietly and unconfidently. "I will ensure that my master's wedding shall go as planned!" Reid sweatdropped. Now the pressure was put on HIM to come up with something on the spot.

"Erm, wedding?" He said. "That cannot be! I shall ensure that my princess will be set free!"

"Not if I can help it!" Keele yelled, brandishing his Craymel cage, which glowed bright red beneath his dark blue and yellow starred robes. Reid gulped, since he knew that Keele was probably gonna incinerate him if he did nothing. Before Keele could cast the spell, Reid leaped up to where Keele was and held Excalibur to his neck.

"Pretend to die or you really will die here, Keele..." Reid threatened. Keele was looking completely shocked before Reid's threat set in and he actually did pass out. Reid sweatdropped and let his friend fall to the ground before going back to where he had been standing prior to Keele nearly attacking him. The narrator, caught a bit off guard from that fiasco, recovered quickly.

_Erm... So... The wedding was about to go on inside the castle, and the evil knight was about to win... But he had no idea that the golden knight was on his way to stop him... _The scenery changed to represent the interior of a castle. At one end stood Meredy in her regal looking gown. At the other stood Reid, staring at Meredy for a second before lapsing back into his stage persona.

"Princess!" He yelled as he started to run over towards Meredy. About halfway to where she was, an evil laugh protruded the air. It was the same dark voice that had read the note that the evil knight had left behind.

A second later, something jumped down and landed between Reid and Meredy. A bit to Reid's shock, it was... Kyle! Kyle had actually agreed to play the villain of the story? The blond teenager was decked from head to toe in a crimson body suit similar to the one Reid had on with dull silver armor on top of it. Furthermore, his armor was decorated with countless numbers of skulls, decorating everything from his epaulets to his belt. He was also wearing a bright red cape, and his eyes seemed to be glowing evilly despite still being the same heroic blue color that they always were. Kyle finally spoke up.

"So, Golden Knight..." He said, using the same voice that had read the letter earlier. Reid raised an eyebrow. He had no idea that Kyle had such talent in sounding evil. "...You're here to reclaim your princess, aren't you?" Reid pulled out Excalibur, trying to get over the shock of the situation.

"I'll never let you marry her!" He said. Kyle laughed maniacally. He sure was doing a convincing job of pretending to be evil. He then pulled out the Sword of Destiny, which was pretty ironic, seeing a sword of such purity being used by a villain.

"You're gonna have to go through me if you ever want to be with her!" He yelled before running at Reid. They clashed swords and stood there for a while, looking into each other's eyes.

"You sure look like you're having fun being evil..." Reid whispered to his friend. Kyle gave Reid an evil smile in return.

"Fun, eh?" He said a little too loudly. "I'm only gonna have fun once I'm done with you!" At that moment, Kyle backed up a step and then started furiously clashing swords with Reid, not letting up for a second. Reid growled as he futilely looked for an opening in his opponent's voracious attacks.

"Geez, Kyle!" He whispered. "You sure are taking this fight seriously... I'm supposed to WIN, you know..." It was at that point that Kyle had given Reid an indication that he was still sane and was just playing the part.

"I know..." He said softly in his normal voice, still clashing with Reid. "But I'm not gonna let you win without having to work for..." It was at that moment that Kyle's guard had dropped for a split second, which was long enough for Reid to find an opening and pretend to slash him across his exposed stomach. Kyle sank to his knees and then pretended to die, giving Reid one last wink before closing his eyes. Reid smiled. The narrator continued.

_After the evil knight had been slain, the golden knight and the princess were finally reunited. When they returned to the kingdom, the princess offered her hand in marriage to her savior and they lived happily ever after... The end..._

* * *

After the curtain call and everything was done, everybody gathered outside the main entrance to the theatre to breathe a simultaneous sigh of relief and discuss what they had just gone through. Before long, the man who had dragged them to the theatre had met up with the heroes, his face beaming with pride.

"There you guys are!" He said. "Thanks to you all, tonight was a success! We couldn't have done it without you!"

"Meredy is tired..." The purple haired girl said. This was further accentuated by a yawn from Keele.

"Yes, I think we've had enough excitement for one night, sir." He said. "I think we're all going to get some sleep now..." The man laughed.

"Oh, but it's almost morning!" He said. Everybody was completely shocked. "Why don't you all spend the rest of the night enjoying yourselves in Jini and then take a rest at sunrise?" Reid wobbled.

"Already... almost... daytime?" He said tiredly. "Ugh, I don't wanna become nocturnal..." Reid fell over, dizzy. Everybody else sweatdropped.

"V-very well..." The man said. "I'll just give you a thank-you gift and depart..." He held out a scroll which Keele took from the man. The scholar unrolled the parchment and his eyes lit up.

"This is a map of the Celestian underwater sea passages!" He said excitedly. "We can make good use of this! Thank you!" The man laughed.

"It's no trouble for what you all did for me." He chuckled while looking at Reid before continuing. "Well, I bid thee adieu. Have a good day's sleep~~~" After saying this, he departed, leaving everybody else to go find a place to sleep and, after reviving Reid, they did.

* * *

**Author's Final Note: **Well, that sure was quite the filler chapter... XD Kudos to those who get the reference with Kyle's role in the play (which I presume rarely anybody who doesn't know me personally will get). But now that you guys have had a break from some serious action, it's time to dive right back into the main story! Also, I warn you guys now: some time from now, this story is being planned to go in a COMPLETELY different direction than either ToE or ToD2, so if you don't like things like that, I suggest you stop reading soon before the story gets really weird (then again, the ToE story is starting to change from the influence of an extra character and a missing character...). If you DO want to continue into the realm of Nowhere Near Canon, then keep reading! And thanks for reading this chapter!

And now for an omake... of sorts...

* * *

Titles obtained in this chapter:

Reid has earned the title of "_Golden Lead Actor_"!

Description: Not only does your armor shine brightly, but so does your charisma on stage! Get out there and steal the show!

Meredy has earned the title of "_Princess Damsel_"!

Description: Everybody is concerned for your safety and well-being. Remember to thank the hero for saving you!

Keele has earned the title of "_Ad Libbing Wizard_"!

Description: Your lines reflect your genius and brilliance, but be sure to speak loudly so everybody can hear you!

Chat has earned the title of "_Temperamental Lion_"!

Description: Nobody messes with you, or else they risk getting their head chopped off by your sharp claws!.

Max has earned the title of "_Feedback Tormenter_"!

Description: You're supposed to be torturing the princess, not the audience! Turn down your microphone before somebody goes deaf!

Kyle has earned the title of "_Overenthusiastic Villain_"!

Description: You play the role of the bad guy far too well... Are you sure you still want to be a hero?


	18. Chapter 33: Onward to Inferia!

**Two Destinies Chapter 33: Onward to Inferia!**

**Author's Preface: ** So I'm writing quite a bit of this chapter on a dose of adrenaline that I got from reading another fanfiction on this site. In said fic, the author… *gasp* nearly killed off my favorite Tales character! (Three guesses who that is… :P) Despite my ire towards said author (who shall remain anonymous), this chapter is going to be lighthearted – the team is FINALLY going to get to Inferia! :D Let's see how that turns out… So, seeing as I doubt anybody wants to read about the team idly going after the five Silver Cages of Aifread's Platform, I'm gonna skip ahead to when they've already found all five and they're at the platform… (And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the Greater Craymel Shadow.) Read on, my friend…

* * *

"So, how exactly is this thing going to get us to Inferia, Chat?" Keele inquired. He was examining the interior of the platform as Max was assisting Chat with the installation of the five Silver Cages that the team had found (Max did all the heavy lifting and Chat did the supervising and all the scolding when he was putting the cages in wrong). Chat sighed.

"To be honest, Keele…" She said. "I haven't got any clue as to how this is going to get us to Inferia…"

"Maybe this thing is like a cannon that'll shoot us up to Inferia!" Kyle suggested innocently with a wide, almost goofy-looking grin plastered to his face. Keele's face immediately turned green upon hearing the suggestion.

"I-I certainly hope not…" He uttered weakly, looking quite ill. Once the scholar had regained his composure, he added, "I'm hoping it involves the cages acting like pistons and propelling us up through the Orbus Barrier… Or maybe using powerful Craymel magic to do that!" Reid sighed.

"I don't care HOW it gets us to Inferia as long as it gets us there…" He said, crossing his arms. Meredy was standing next to him a little too closely, though not close enough to cause a reaction with Reid's Fibrill to occur.

"…Is Reid homesick?" She asked, staring at the redhead with her big, purple eyes. Reid looked at her for a second before his eyes wandered over to Kyle, who apparently hadn't heard Meredy's question and was more preoccupied with the installation of the Silver Cages. Reid then looked back at Meredy.

"Well, a bit…" He answered finally. "But at least I know that I'm gonna be heading home, soon…" A depressed sigh from nearby told him that Kyle had drawn his attention away from Max and Chat long enough to have heard what Reid had said. Reid turned to face him.

"At least you're GOING home…" The blonde said in a monotone, looking down at the metallic floor. Reid sighed and walked over towards Kyle.

"I'm sorry, Kyle…" He said, placing a hand on the wall over his friend's head. "You know, when this whole ordeal with the Grand Fall is over, you can always call Inferia home… I'm sure you're gonna like it a lot more than Celestia~~~" Kyle tilted his head slightly in innocence.

"…What makes you say that?" He said. "How can you be so sure that I'm gonna like Inferia?" Reid chuckled.

"Well, it's more of a hunch than anything else…" He said, pausing for a bit to see Kyle's reaction. The younger blonde's face furrowed a little more, but otherwise didn't change. After another second, he continued. "Besides the fact, you look like an Inferian to the point that you've been called such a couple of times." Kyle chuckled.

"Well, that's true…" He said, blushing a bit. However, the extra color faded from his cheeks quickly as he locked eyes with Reid and continued, "but just because I look like an Inferian doesn't exactly mean I'm gonna wanna BE an Inferian…" Reid sighed.

"Then you're just gonna have to see what Inferia looks like for yourself…" He said, smiling a little more. "I doubt you'll be disappointed…" At that moment, there was the sound of somebody clearing their throat from behind Reid. He turned around to see Chat staring at him with her arms crossed.

"You know…" She said. "Kyle's not the ONLY one in this group who's never set foot on Inferia…"

"YEAH!" Max continued. "I'd like to see what Inferia looks like, as well! Maybe, if it's good enough for me, I'll take over Inferia and become king of all of Eternia!" He thrust a fist into the air. Everybody stared at Max like he had five heads. After a few moments of awkward silence, Max let out a hearty laugh. "I'm just kidding – being king of Celestia's good enough for me~~~" He punched Reid in his right shoulder blade a little too hard. Reid chuckled sheepishly and rubbed his now-sore shoulder. Keele cleared his throat.

"So, are we ready to depart for Inferia yet, Chat?" He asked, looking at the captain. She spun around to face him and gave him a thumb's up.

"Pretty much~~~" Chat said. "All we have to do is finish aligning this last cage and…" at that moment, there was a loud clicking sound. Everybody stared at Max, who was standing next to the last Silver Cage.

"YEAH!" He said. "All set!" Reid smiled.

"All right! We're finally gonna return to Inferia!" Chat clapped twice to gather everybody's attention.

"All right, you guys, this is what we've been waiting for!" She said with a wide grin plastered to her face. "Let's get back to the Van Eltia and go to Inferia!" In the next instant, everybody had gathered back into their Aifishes. From outside the platform, they could see that the roof of the small building had started glowing white with Aifread's insignia glowing more brightly in the center. Keele gave an enlightened sigh.

"I see now…" He said. "Those Silver Cages were exactly what I thought they were: giant Craymel Cages. We're going to be using Craymel power to get to Inferia! Let's head back to the Van Eltia!" Surprisingly, when everybody's Aifishes resurfaced, they saw that the Van Eltia was idly floating near the glowing spot on the water. Chat laughed.

"Well! I guess the Van Eltia has an auto pilot that follows the pack of Aifishes~~~" The pirate girl's voice buzzed over the intercom. "That's convenient – I was hoping we weren't gonna have to go back to where the Van Eltia was docked and then bring it back here."

"Time to go to Inferia!" Reid said loudly. There was a simultaneous agreement from everybody else as they brought their Aifishes towards the Van Eltia, all getting excited about going to the other world of Eternia.

* * *

Once everybody was inside the Van Eltia, they rushed to the cockpit of the boat, where Chat took up the steering wheel of her ship and cruised into the glowing spot on the sea. There was a bright flash that blinded everybody for a few seconds, and then it faded.

"…Did it work?" Reid wondered aloud, looking out the nearby window. "Nothing SEEMS different…" The window of the cockpit was covered in sea salt and was impossible to make heads or tails out of.

"Well, let's go to the observation deck and find out~~~" Chat said. Everybody at once rushed for the deck and instantly slowed as they looked up and saw Inferia's azure sky dotted with cumulus clouds as opposed to Celestia's bleak, always cloud-covered gray sky. Reid laughed aloud.

"All right!" He said. "We're finally back on Inferia!" There was a loud gasp behind him. Reid turned around to see Kyle's sapphire eyes glowing brighter than he'd ever seen before. A look of pure amazement was on his face.

"Wow…" The blonde finally said. "So THIS is Inferia…" He laughed happily as he ran over to the side of the ship and gasped again. "Wow! The sea is such a beautiful blue color! And the sky is so bright and cloudless! And look!" He pointed at a nearby verdant mass of land with a giant peak coming out of it, which Reid identified as Mount Farlos, which housed the Bridge of Light that he and his friends had first gone to Celestia with. "The plants on that island are a lush green color… It's all so beautiful!" Reid chuckled. He moved over to where Kyle was and wrapped an arm around Kyle's shoulders. The younger swordsman turned to look up at Reid.

"See?" He said. "I told you that you'd like Inferia~~~" Reid looked at his friend, whose entire body seemed to glow happily in the bright Inferian sun. Kyle's flaxen hair looked like it was spun from pure golden threads, upon which the light shimmered and the wind danced playfully. Even Kyle's bright smile that Reid had come to know so well was shining brighter than ever in the full, unhindered light of the sun.

"It's wonderful~~~" Kyle said. "It reminds me of my world so much… In fact, I don't think I'd mind it if I lived on this world for the rest of my life once the Grand Fall has been stopped." He looked back out at the sea before yelling, "I, Kyle Dunamis, am an Inferian!" Reid laughed at his friend's proclamation before something rapidly approaching caught his eye. Once he realized what it was, his laughter instantly ceased. Keele also had spotted the object in question.

"Uh oh…" The blue haired scholar said. "That ship belongs to Inferia's Royal Navy! And we're sailing in an unidentified vessel on Inferian waters!"

"Not to worry!" Chat said. "The Van Eltia can outrun any Inferian ship!"

"Perhaps…" Keele said. "…But by the time you get back to the steering room, that ship will be sidled up right next to us…" A bead of sweat rolled down the back of Chat's neck.

"Oh…" She said quietly. "…Didn't think about that…"

"We should just let them know that we mean no harm…" Meredy said. "Hopefully we'll be allowed to go free!"

"I don't think it's gonna work out that easily…" Keele said quietly. "Let's just hope for the best…" At that moment, the Inferian Navy ship had pulled up alongside the Van Eltia. A familiar voice called out from the other ship.

"You there! You're sailing an unidentified vessel on Inferian waters!" Reid rolled his eyes. That voice belonged to the LAST person he wanted to see so soon after returning to Inferia – Roen Lamoa. In the next second, the Inferian ship and the Van Eltia were facing each other so that they could communicate across the observation decks. Sure enough, Roen was standing with his arms crossed looking like he had just swallowed something sour. A small smile crept onto the knight's face when he saw who was on the other ship. "Well, look who it is… Reid Hershel and his merry band of wannabe-heroes… You've finally returned to Inferia to accept your punishment…" Reid sighed.

"We didn't come back to Inferia just to throw ourselves back into your grubby hands, Roen…" Reid retorted. "We're here on a mission!"

"Silence!" Roen demanded. "Well, I see you've brought even MORE Celestians to this world… I was right – you ARE conspiring with the Celestians to stage a coup on the king!"

"Hey!" Kyle yelled a split second after hearing Roen's blasphemy. "That's hardly the truth! We're trying to save the world from the Grand…"

"Enough!" The knight captain's booming voice cut Kyle off. "Knights, board that ship immediately and capture all the passengers!" Within seconds, a large handful of knights, Roen included, had stormed the Van Eltia and were surrounding its crew with swords raised. At that moment, Reid realized that more Inferian ships had come to surround the Van Eltia. There was nowhere for them to run. A few seconds after everybody was surrounded, one of the guards gasped.

"Sir Roen!" The knight exclaimed. "Take a closer look at the blond Inferian boy!" Reid realized that the guard was referring to Kyle and also threw a glance over at his friend.

"…Me?" Kyle said, also aware that he was the one being pointed out. "What about me?" Roen stepped in to take a closer look at Kyle. The two of them exchanged glares for a second before Roen also gasped.

"H-how DARE you!" He said. "You little vagrant! How dare you defy the Golden Edict!"

"The Golden what?" Kyle said, tilting his head in confusion. A loud groan of frustration came from Keele.

"Aagh, goddammit! How the hell could I have forgotten about the Golden Edict?" The scholar facepalmed with both of his hands. Reid looked from Keele back to Kyle. At that moment, the red haired hunter's eyes constricted as he realized what Roen was talking about.

"…Keele?" Meredy asked. "What's the Golden Edict?"

"The Golden Edict proclaims that all Inferians must wear a choker to symbolize their allegiance to the King of Inferia…" Roen said, glaring hatefully at Kyle. "…and this boy has no choker on! He has refused to pledge allegiance to the king!" Kyle gasped.

"W-wait!" He said. "That's not true! I didn't know about the Golden Edict! I've only been on Inferia for less than a half hour!"

"Dammit…" Keele groaned. "…I guess the fact that I associated Kyle with being from another world made me forget that he looks like an Inferian and that he should have been wearing a choker…" Kyle turned his head to look back at Keele, but a second later, his arm was squeezed forcefully by Roen and he turned back to face the knight captain. Kyle yelped in pain.

"Let go of me!" Kyle demanded, his voice full of agony. "I'm sorry! I just didn't know about the edict! I'll wear a choker from now on!"

"It's too late for that, you little brat!" Roen barked. "Seeing as you didn't know about the edict, I bet you don't know what the punishment for not following it is, do you?" Kyle's only response was another yelp of pain as Roen's iron grip tightened even more around his arm.

"…The punishment for not following the Golden Edict is death as decided by the King of Inferia himself…" Keele said quietly, looking down at his feet. Reid's eyes constricted even more as he gave a gasp of horror. Kyle's face was highlighted by pure terror.

"Wait a second!" Chat demanded. "Meredy, Max, and I aren't wearing chokers, either! Why aren't you punishing US?" Meredy jumped up and down in agreement. Max pointed at Roen.

"YEAH!" Max said. "Why are you punishing just Kyle for something all FOUR of us are guilty of?" Roen harrumphed.

"As much as I'd like to…" He growled. "…the edict specifically states that INFERIANS must wear chokers. It says nothing about Celestian scum like you three… Therefore, I can't do anything but frown upon you."

"But I'm not Inferian, either!" Kyle argued. Reid ignored the fact that Kyle had just minutes ago exclaimed that he was an Inferian, knowing that stating that fact would only hinder his friend's chances at going free. Not even Keele, who could easily have gotten revenge with just a few words for all the fun that Kyle had poked at him in the past few months, said anything.

"What kind of blasphemy is that?" Roen barked. "You have light colored skin, speak English, and don't have that… thing on your head… You CAN'T be a Celestian!" Kyle shook his head.

"I didn't say I was a Celestian!" He said. "I'm not an Inferian, either! I'm from another world entirely!" Roen began laughing, and the other knights joined him to create a chorus of laughter.

"T-that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" The knight captain said between fits of laughter. "From another world entirely! Ha! And what might THAT world be, hmm? Vatenkeist? Ha ha ha!" Kyle's face turned as red as Reid's hair. At that point, Reid was sent over the edge in his rage towards Roen. He unsheathed Excalibur and pointed it at the knight captain. All the knights, Roen included, stopped laughing and looked at the angry hunter.

"Let. Him. Go…" Reid demanded. "He's telling the truth! He's neither Celestian nor Inferian, and he promised that he'd wear a choker if you let him go! Why won't you listen to him?" Kyle stared silently at his friend. Roen also glared angrily at Reid.

"Hmph!" Roen said. "You REALLY think I'd listen to a criminal's ridiculous story?" Roen tugged on Kyle's arm again, causing the blond swordsman to yelp in pain again. "I'm the captain of the Imperial Knights for a good reason – I don't listen to nonsense! I won't listen to this boy's crap, and I certainly won't listen to anything YOU say, Reid Hershel! You're the LAST person I'd believe! All this blasphemy about the Grand Fall… You may have fooled Chancellor Zosimos, but you can't fool me!"

"Shut up!" Reid barked. "Everything I've said about the Grand Fall is true! Why can't you just accept the truth, Roen?"

"I've heard just about enough out of you, Reid Hershel!" The knight captain pushed Kyle back towards another knight who was standing nearby. "Hold onto that vagrant while I deal with this troublemaker…" He told the knight, who nodded and then grabbed Kyle's arms to restrain him. The blonde instantly tried to struggle out of his captor's grasp to no avail. The other knights on the ship had corralled the rest of the Van Eltia crew into a small section of the boat and surrounded them so they couldn't interfere with the fight that was about to occur. Roen then unsheathed his own sword and clashed blades with Reid. "En garde!" He yelled as the duel commenced. Everybody watched as the two swordsmen went at it for a long time. Neither was giving signs of backing down, until, a few minutes later, both of them stopped fighting to look at one another.

"You're pretty good…" Reid commented while taking a few deep breaths.

"Hmph… Your style lacks refinement, Reid Hershel…" Roen retorted. "…But admittedly, you make quite a worthy opponent…" He paused for a second and then straightened up. "But, I'm afraid we don't have all day here…" Reid smiled.

"Letting your guard down, eh, Roen?" He said. At that moment, Kyle's shrill voice broke the tense mood as he yelled at his friend.

"REID, LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" The blonde yelled. Reid quickly turned around and had only a split second to realize what was going on before being clubbed over the head by one of Roen's lackeys. Reid instantly crumpled to the ground upon feeling the force of the blow to his skull. Kyle instantly started screaming Reid's name repeatedly in response to the event. Kyle's hopeless cry of "NO! **REID, NO!****!**" was the last thing the red haired hunter heard before he went unconscious.

* * *

**Author's Final Note: **Dun dun DUN! Cliffhanger! What will happen to Reid? What will happen to Kyle? Why am I asking all these redundant questions that'll be answered in the next chapter? *shot* Yeah, so anyways, I forgot to mention this in my preface, but, seeing as I now have a nicer, larger computer than before, I'm officially working on a fan game for this story! Yay! It's still in the planning stages, but it's in the works! I have a few people already willing to help me work on the game (my brother included), but I don't want to promise anything yet aside from the fact that there's gonna be a fan game eventually. :P Hope you're as excited as I am for this! While you wait for more news about the fan game, keep reading the story! *shot* Reviews make me happy!


	19. Chapter 34: Dreams and Knightmares

**Two Destinies Chapter 34: Dreams and Knightmares**

**Author's Preface: **Behold the bad pun (and (not so) subtle reference) in my chapter title! *shot* Yeah, so I apologize for leaving you all hanging at the end of the previous chapter, but I like yanking the dog's chain a little, y'know? :P Either way, I'm gonna divulge upon the next part of the story now, so enjoy~~~

BTW, I've realized that this site does NOT like it when I use multiple punctuation marks like "? ! ?" mushed together… I think that's a sign that I should stop trying to use them… XD And, if it isn't obvious to you, the text in italics at the beginning of this chapter represents a dream sequence. :P

* * *

_Reid opened his eyes slowly, though he was unable to make heads or tails of anything in the overwhelming darkness. Upon blinking again, his eyes opened wider and revealed a few vague forms silhouetted by immense orange flames glowing behind them. There were a few faint screams of terror and the roaring of flames that swirled around Reid's ears as he tried to figure out where he was. His nose was being overwhelmed by the acrid stench of smoke as he tried to move his body, which rebelled against him and started to ache. It wasn't long before a sharp twinge of pain throbbed from his right arm – a pain he assumed was from his arm being broken, and, when he went to try and move the arm in question, confirmed his assumption when his arm starting hurting ten times as much._

_Just then, the noise of a sword whistling through the air caught Reid's attention. The red haired hunter looked up to see two human figures fighting in front of him. One of them was hunched over a bit, almost looking like a zombie, while the other was pointing a sword at his opponent in a stance not too much different than Reid usually had when fighting. In fact, the second person looked quite a bit like himself, even though he could only see this person's silhouette… Once again, the sword wielder started attacking the other person, who growled loudly with a possessed voice after blocking the strike._

"_How dare you stand in my way, you fool!" Two voices said simultaneously. "All I want is the Chosen of the World of Light…" The other person jumped back, still holding his sword towards his opponent._

"_I don't know what the hell you're blathering on about, Norris…" The man said with a voice that sounded only slightly deeper than Reid's. Reid gasped as he recognized the voice as belonging to his father. "…But I will NOT let you harm my son!" Reid's father lunged at the other individual, whom Reid was now able to identify as Farah's father, and they once again dueled for a few minutes. However, it wasn't long before Reid's father was raked across the chest by Farah's father and stumbled backwards in pain._

"_DAD!" Reid cried. He was surprised at first to hear that his voice sounded like that of a seven(1) year old child rather than a teenager, but then everything started making sense to him – this was a flashback of ten years ago – when Rasheans was destroyed._

"_Reid!" His father yelled, looking back at his son. "Get out of here! Now!" At that very moment, there was the sound of flesh being torn asunder as blood started flying everywhere. A second later, there was a loud scream of agony from Reid's father as he collapsed to the ground, a new hole in his chest having been ripped open thanks to Farah's father._

"_**DAAAAAAAAD!**__" Reid yelled, tears starting to stream down his face. "__**DAD! DAD! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**__" Reid was so distraught by his father's murder that he didn't realize that Norris Oersted was advancing upon him until the possessed man spoke up again._

"_So… Chosen of the World of Light…" The two voices said simultaneously. Reid's head instantly shot up as he looked up at Farah's father in fear. "It was YOUR presence in my home that brought my attention to this pathetic little hamlet… The servant of my archenemy was sitting right under my nose, and I couldn't do anything… Until this willing man had lent me this body so I could hunt you down…" Reid gasped. So it was HIS fault that Rasheans was destroyed, not Farah's! All because he was some 'Chosen of the World of Light'… Whatever that meant. "Now… DIE, accursed brat!" Farah's father started running towards the immobile child, claws ready to rip Reid's heart out._

_Reid closed his eyes tightly – this wasn't how he remembered this! His own father had taken out the demon that had possessed Farah's father at the cost of his own life… But his father was dead, and the monster was still alive! He was going to die! This wasn't how it was supposed to…_

"_HAAAAAH!" An unidentifiable voice pierced the air and the ringing sound of a sword slashing through both flesh and thin air distracted Reid from his thoughts of impending doom. Reid opened his eyes again and saw that there was a new figure standing in his view. This person was standing completely obscured by flames, with only his silhouette visible. Whoever it was had a long cape that flapped rapidly in the wind. The person also seemed to have what looked like a large spiky ball as a head. Reid blinked once in confusion, as he didn't remember seeing this person at the original scene of the destruction of his hometown._

_In the next second, Reid's attention moved away from the mysterious caped figure and onto Norris Oersted, who gave a loud cry of agony as he also fell to the ground dead. After Norris collapsed, the person who had killed him turned around and stood facing Reid, their appearance still obscured by the unusual lighting conditions of the scene. For a few more seconds, Reid stared at his mysterious savior's cape billowing in the wind before he passed out from the pain of his broken right arm as well as the trauma from the event he had just experienced…

* * *

_

"Reid! Reid, are you okay?" Reid heard a familiar voice as he began to open his eyes. Standing over him was Keele, much to his surprise. The blue haired scholar's long hair was draped over his shoulder for whatever reason. Reid then sighed, as he knew that he'd actually reawakened at this point. Meredy started jumping up and down.

"Baiba!" She cried. "Reid is okay!" Max started laughing loudly.

"YEAH!" He exclaimed. "We were all wondering when you were going to reawaken." Reid sat up, and then the back his head instantly started to ache.

"Oww…" He groaned, rubbing his head. "My head is killing me…"

"That was a pretty nasty hit they inflicted on you…" Chat said. "Your head was actually bleeding a little… Thank goodness it doesn't look like you had any brain damage done…" Under her breath, she added, "I can't afford to have you any stupider than you already are…" Reid groaned again, still afflicted with the splitting headache. Reid started to try and recall what happened right before he had passed out, but the only thing he could recall was Kyle calling out for him right after he had been clobbered…

"Kyle!" Reid gasped, looking around. The blonde was nowhere in sight. Reid also realized that he and his friends had all been thrown into a small jail cell. However, that fact only lingered in his head for a split second before he instantly thought of Kyle once again. "Where's Kyle?" He asked aloud. Keele sighed.

"Kyle was… 'Personally invited' onto Roen's private ship for 'a little conversation'…" Keele said bitterly. "We're sitting in the dungeon on one of the other ships." Reid growled angrily.

"Dammit…" He said, pounding his knee with his fist. "I wasn't able to rescue him… I wonder what's happening to him on the other ship…" Keele shook his head.

"Seyfert only knows…" The scholar said, looking at the cell door. "I have a hunch that they're not pulling any punches, though. Kyle's being convicted of a very serious crime, so they're probably trying to squeeze any information out of him that they can even before they get to the King…" Reid growled.

"Dammit…" He said in a low tone. "This all could have been easily avoided…"

* * *

"This all could have easily been avoided, you know…" Roen was speaking in a very stern tone. "All you needed to do was wear a choker – even just a mere ribbon would have sufficed – and none of us would be here right now…" Kyle coughed weakly.

"I'm sorry…" He said in a soft, remorse-heavy tone while avoiding Roen's eyes. "…I can't breathe… Why is this thing on so tight?" The thing in question was a large, bulky black device that was clamped around the poor boy's neck. Kyle could barely hold his head upright thanks to it. It also didn't help that he was shackled to a nearby wall.

"All Inferians MUST wear a choker…" Roen teased. "And if you refuse to wear your own choker, you have to wear OURS. Oh, and ours has an extra special function, too… It's quite useful for…" He paused for dramatic effect. "…gathering information~~~" Roen's sarcastic tone instantly grew serious at that moment. "Who is in charge of the Grand Fall?" He demanded. Kyle coughed.

"Shi…" He was unable to breathe correctly, let alone talk. "Shi… Shiz…" Kyle gave a raspy, breathless gasp. His face was turning blue from lack of oxygen.

"Sir…" A knight spoke up. "I really DO think we should loosen it up just one notch until we get to Inferia City… We can't have the fugitive dying before His Majesty can decide upon his fate…" Roen sighed.

"Fine…" He said in defeat. "ONE notch, that's it…" The knight who had come up with the suggestion nodded, and then proceeded to loosen the device ever so slightly. However, it was enough, and Kyle gave a multitude of exasperated, noisy breaths as he tried to recover. After Kyle gave one final deep breath, Roen cleared his throat.

"Anyways, like I was asking before: Who is in charge of the Grand Fall?" He crossed his arms and awaited an answer from his prisoner.

"Her name is Shizel…" Kyle said quietly. Roen frowned.

"I'm sorry, could you say that louder?" He inquired. "I don't think I heard you!" At that moment, Roen whipped out some kind of device from within his coat and pointed it towards Kyle. Kyle's eyes grew wide.

"W-what's that?" He asked, staring at the device. It was the same color as the neck brace that was clamped around his neck.

"Let me show you…" Roen said before pressing a button on his device. There was a clicking sound, and then a red light started glowing on Roen's remote, followed by a red light on Kyle's neck brace a second later. This was instantly followed up by a surge of electricity flowing through the brace, shocking poor Kyle. He instantly started screaming and thrashing about in pain as soon as he felt the effects of the electricity. About five seconds later, Roen took his finger off of the button and Kyle collapsed to his knees. The only things that kept him off the ground were the shackles that held his arms over his head. Kyle gasped for breath for a few seconds, while Roen laughed at his prisoner's sorry condition. After some time, Kyle looked up at Roen with his eyes filled partly with anger and partly with agony.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He asked between gasping breaths. Roen instantly stopped laughing and a cross look twisted his face.

"Don't talk unless I tell you that you can talk, Fugitive!" He barked. Once again, he held forth the remote to the collar and pressed the button before Kyle could voice his protest. Like the first time, Kyle screamed in agony upon being electrocuted and started gasping for air again after it subsided. "Now, anyways…" Roen continued. "Who did you say was in charge of the Grand Fall again?"

"SHIZEL!" Kyle yelled, making sure that Roen could hear him. Tears of pain were involuntarily rolling down his face. Roen smirked.

"Shizel, huh?" He said. "And what kind of importance does this… Shizel person have in Celestia?"

"She's the Queen of Celestia!" Kyle shouted. "She's Balir's widow, and she used the Dark Aurora to start the Grand Fall…"

"Dark Aurora?" Roen asked. "What exactly is the Dark Aurora?"

"I don't really know all that much about it…" Kyle said softly, his voice starting to falter. Roen flipped the remote to the shock collar into the air and deliberately caught it with his finger on the button.

"Oops~~~" He said sarcastically as he held his finger on the button for a few seconds, causing yet another episode of yelling and thrashing about. Unintentionally, Kyle slammed his head against the wooden wall behind him in his fit of agony, which left a mark of blood on the wall behind him. Once this round of torture had finished, he didn't even try to lift his head up again and stared at the floor with his blurred vision.

"Captain, I think you've gone a little too far…" One of the knights said. "The fugitive is in horrible condition right now…" Roen glared at the knight who had said that.

"_I _will decide when the fugitive has had enough!" He shouted. "And that's when I get all the information I need out of him! Now…" Roen's attention focused back on Kyle. "Where were we~~~?"

"Please stop!" Kyle sobbed weakly. "I'll do anything… ANYTHING!" Roen grinned in his victory.

"Well, looks like I've broken this wild mustang…" He said evilly. "Tell me everything about your plans for Inferia…" Kyle slowly lifted his head up to look at Roen. His eyes were clouded over in pain. It was truly a sorry sight to behold, but not a single heartstring was pulled in Roen's cold heart at Kyle's pathetic condition.

"…We're trying to… save Eternia…" Kyle said feebly between labored breaths. "…We came… to Inferia… so Reid could take part… in the Second Trial of Sey…" His voice failed before he could finish the word. Roen pointed his remote at Kyle and was about to hit the button again when another knight stopped him.

"Captain, another shock might kill him!" The knight warned. "He's about to pass out anyways!" Roen sighed.

"Fine…" He grunted. "Besides, His Majesty needs to be the one who decides how this fugitive dies, not me…" He turned around and took a step towards the nearest door. "Have him nursed back to a condition where he's not going to randomly pass out in His Majesty's presence." After saying this, Roen left the room, not even waiting to hear his faithful knights' salute.

The knight who suggested that Kyle should be spared ran over to the pitiable boy and detached him from the shackles on the wall. Kyle immediately collapsed into the arms of the knight and passed out. Another knight sighed as the first one slung the excessively tortured boy over his shoulder.

"Geez, you think the captain went a little too far on the poor kid?" The second said.

"Yeah, I agree…" A third commented. "As much as the crime he's been convicted of is very serious, I could tell from his eyes that he was willing to make amends… Maybe the King will be kind enough to excuse him…"

"Either way, we can't leave him in this condition, fugitive or not." The knight who was holding Kyle said, and then he left through the same door that Roen had gone through just a short while ago.

* * *

"I'm kinda hoping that His Majesty will believe Kyle's story that he's from another world and excuse him…" Reid said, staring at a wall outside the dungeon. Keele sighed.

"Doubtful." Keele said. "Aside from the existence of Kyle, there's really no proof that another world besides the two worlds of Eternia exists… Nothing's ever been recorded with the telescopes at the Royal Observatory or anything… Even so, it's not like Kyle LOOKS like an alien from another world, either…" He sighed. "From an outside perspective, he undoubtedly looks like an Inferian…"

"So, what do you think is going to happen to US?" Chat said. "We know that Kyle's gonna be put to death in whatever way the King thinks is appropriate, but our fate isn't as clear…" Reid shook his head slowly.

_No… _He thought. _Kyle's NOT going to die… I don't know how he's gonna do it, but he WILL live on… He has to… There's no way Kyle's gonna die like that after all he's been through already…

* * *

_

**Author's Final Note: **Ugh, this chapter is shorter than normal… So much for keeping to my 3K words-per-chapter goal… *sigh* Either way, I have a something to announce. There are a couple of surprises planned out for the next few chapters. One of which I shall reveal right now: another Tales cameo! If you have any knowledge of what's in Inferia City, it should be obvious as to what said cameo is. :P The other REALLY big surprise is the one I'm more excited about writing, though… :3 However, when I write in the first part of the big surprise, the second part is gonna be pretty obvious (considering you know your material, that is…). Start speculating, people! *shot*

* * *

Footnote:  
(1) Before you guys call shenanigans with "18 – 10 =/= 7" in regards to Reid's age during the dream sequence, I've always interpreted that Reid is JUST BARELY 18 (as in he just had his birthday less than a month before the game began) at the start of ToE, and who says the destruction was EXACTLY ten years ago? If you understand that logic, then if the destruction was, say, ten years and five (lol random number) months ago, then that would make Reid seven during that time, not eight. Aren't I brilliant? :P *shot*


	20. Chapter 35: Punishment and Rescue

**Two Destinies Chapter 35: Punishment and Rescue**

**Author's Preface:** It's been a while since you've heard from me, hasn't it? Don't worry, I have a legitimate reason as to why this story hasn't updated in so long – college is horrible for getting anything like writing a fanfiction chapter done… DX Just think, I still need to survive 3.75 more years of this… DX As for the game, my studies have put that on hiatus, as well. Gotta love college! :/

Either way, enjoy this new chapter! ^^

* * *

"_What the hell is this door doing here?"_

"_Big Brother! Watch out!"_

"_Shannon! No! Let her go! Gyaah!"_

"_You're mine now! Ahahaha!"_

_These voices, consisting of his own, a little girl who he assumed was Shannon's, and a deep, evil sounding voice, echoed within Kyle's head as he found himself completely constricted by a large black tentacle upon awaking. He struggled a little to move, but he was completely immobilized by his dark captor. A sharp feeling of fear seeped into every fiber of his being as he glanced around to see what was going on. The first thing he noticed, to his surprise, was that he was wearing a green short sleeved shirt, a black zippered vest, black fingerless gloves, long black pants, and light brown shoes rather than his usual red and blue outfit. The second thing that he noticed was that a large black claw was slowly moving towards him. Once again, he struggled to move, but the darkness constricted around his body tighter, painfully pressing on his body. He instantly stopped moving as soon as he felt the pain on his chest and instead let out a yelp of pain. At that moment, the deep voice from earlier spoke up._

"_Ha ha ha… You really think you can escape the everlasting darkness, Child of Destiny?"_

"_What do you mean by Child of Destiny?" He randomly blurted out. _Wait a second… _He thought afterwards. _I know what the Child of Destiny is… But then why did I say that?_ His thoughts were then interrupted by the dark voice speaking up again._

"_Heh heh heh… It won't matter anymore… Because now your heart is mine!" At that moment, the dark claw hovering over Kyle's head sprang forward and jabbed into his chest. Kyle couldn't help but let out a scream of agony at the top of his lungs as his strange clothes started turn red with blood. A second later, the claw retreated from his body, holding onto a red, fleshy thing. Before Kyle passed out, he realized that the fleshy object that the claw was holding onto was his heart._

111111_  
_

Kyle awoke with a start and gasped for air. He put his hands over where his heart should be and realized that he was okay. He sighed with relief as realized that he was wearing his normal red and blue outfit again and his body was in one piece. It was just a nightmare. _But it had seemed so real…_ He thought as he looked at the surroundings. He was in some kind of a bed with no sheets, and his left ankle had a black shackle around it. As soon as he saw the chain, Kyle remembered that he was still a prisoner on Roen's ship and he lay back onto the pillow he had been sleeping on not long ago, staring at the ceiling in frustration and allowing the rocking of the ship to start lulling him back to sleep. However, before he could relax enough to drift off, a shrill voice echoed into the room.

"Oh! He's awake!" The voice of a flustered-sounding woman said. "Well, consider yourself lucky, Roen – he looks fine." There was the sigh from somebody else as the woman's high heels clacked against the wooden floor. In the next moment, Kyle was eye to eye with an older woman who had lots of wrinkles on her face. He blinked once at her and then she straightened up. "Wonderful! You're okay!" At the next moment, Roen appeared right next to the older lady. Kyle frowned.

"What are you doing here?" Kyle asked cynically. Roen's face furrowed.

"I'm here so I can take you to the King of Inferia so that you could receive your punishment…" He said. "But Mrs. Standish here said that you needed rest and that I shouldn't wake you up…" He grasped Kyle's arm and yanked him up into a sitting position, while Mrs. Standish gasped at his behavior.

"Roen! Be careful! You don't want to rip him in half, do you?" Roen gave the nurse an irritated look before unlatching the shackle around Kyle's foot and forcing the poor kid off the bed. Mrs. Standish caught Kyle before he could hit the floor and gave a distasteful look to Roen at the same time. The knight captain ignored her and snatched Kyle from her grasp, quickly leading him out the door.

111111

Kyle knew he was in a castle, but had no idea how he got here, since Roen was dragging him along too fast for him to get any bearings. One minute, he was on a ship and in the next moment, he found himself surrounded one both sides by knights in some kind of a great room within a castle and his hands were tied behind his back with stiff rope. "Move it!" One of the knights ordered, pushing him forward and causing him to nearly stumble. He was forced along by the knights up to a pair of French doors. One of the knights knocked on the door. A second later, a voice came from within.

"Is that the fugitive?" It said.

"Yes, it is!" One of the knights said in response.

"Send him in!" The voice responded. The knights nodded to one another before opening the doors and pushing Kyle into the room. Kyle stumbled a few steps into the room before falling onto his face. "Get up…" The voice that had told the knights to send him in demanded. Kyle somehow managed to get back onto his feet without his hands to help him and looked across the room at a man sitting in a regal looking chair with a crown on his head – the king. The man's face was expressionless. "So… You're the boy who's being accused of not following my edict…" The voice from earlier that told the knights to send him in had belonged to him. "I see… Tell me, boy, what is your true name? I don't wish to hear your street name…" Kyle growled a bit. He was no street rat. Either way, he kept his cool long enough to get out a response.

"…My true name is Kyle Aileron… But I haven't used that name in years… I go by Kyle Du…" He was cut off before he could finish saying 'Dunamis'.

"I said that I don't want to hear your street name, rat!" The king shouted. Kyle flinched a little, but was otherwise unfazed. "…Aileron, huh? Interesting name… Now, tell me, why won't you wear a choker?"

"But I will!" Kyle retorted. "I just didn't know about that golden whatever when I got here! I told Roen that I would wear one! Just let me go and I promise that I'll wear a choker until the day I die!" The king was not amused.

"How old are you… Kyle?" He paused a bit before saying the name, and then he did so disdainfully.

"…I'm almost sixteen… Why?" Kyle wondered why his age mattered at a time like this. The king's frown grew deeper.

"You mean to tell me that after nearly sixteen years of being belligerent, you finally decided to wear one RIGHT as you were arrested?" Kyle shook his head.

"You don't understand, Your Majesty!" He protested. "I'm not an Inferian! Where I come from, we don't HAVE to wear chokers all the time!" The king stared at Kyle with a scrutinizing eye for a few seconds before he burst into laughter.

"What, I take it that you're a _Celestian_, then? Ha! You don't have dark skin like those lesser people and you speak the same language as me – you can't be Celestian!" Kyle shook his head again.

"No!" He said. "I'm not a Celestian, either! I'm from another world entirely!" The king started laughing harder. Even though it was the truth, nobody believed him.

"Oh, that's rich! Another world entirely! Ha ha ha~~~" He stopped laughing, though he still looked rather tickled. "Really, then~~~ Can you tell me what the name of your world is, then?" Kyle's eyes widened. His world didn't have a known name! He paused a few seconds to think of something to say, but was disrupted by the king, his voice having grown serious.

"Can't think up of a good name, can you?" He said. Kyle turned his eyes away. "Look, kid, you seem to like to entertain people… In such a case, I have just the appropriate punishment for you~~~"

"…What do you mean?" Kyle asked, looking back at the king.

"In your last moments, you shall be able to entertain hundreds of people – I sentence you to death by means of a colosseum fight!" It took Kyle a second to realize what he had just said.

"W-what? A colosseum fight? But…" He was cut off again.

"Guards! Take him down to the colosseum to get ready!" The guards burst into the room and grabbed the poor kid, who was protesting the whole time, and dragged him away...

* * *

And that is how Kyle had found himself in his current situation. He was trying to avoid getting killed by some blond haired man with white armor and a red cape and headband right now. His impressive agility was of good use here, as he jumped and ducked out of the way of many of his enemy's attacks, even despite the fact that his hands were still tied behind his back from the meeting with the king. The blond haired man called out to him.

"Stop moving so I can kill you!" He yelled. Kyle shot a retort at him.

"You can kill me when you catch me, slowpoke!" After which, he jumped over another Demon Fang released by the caped man.

"Don't insult me, you weasel!" After that, the man lunged forward to stab at Kyle. However, Kyle moved at the last second, letting the sword cut through his binds but otherwise missing him. In the next second, his right hand instinctively shot up to his sheath. Surprisingly, he still had the Sword of Destiny on him. Not stopping to wonder why the knights hadn't seized his sword, Kyle whipped it out and faced down his opponent. The man smiled.

"So, you're not just a normal street rat. You must be a man of chivalry, seeing as you look competent with that sword… Well, now that this is no longer a rat chase, but a duel, I think we should at least introduce ourselves… My name is Cress Albane." Kyle smiled as well.

"Kyle Dunamis." He said in response. Cress pointed his sword at Kyle.

"Kyle, huh?" He said. "Very well, prepare yourself, Kyle… I was told that you must perish…" Kyle pointed his sword towards Cress in return.

"I'm not gonna lose this duel, Cress!" He said, still smiling. "I'm not gonna die today!"

"We'll see about that!" Cress said. At that moment, both of them dashed forward and clashed swords, trying to push the other back. Cress was a bit stronger than Kyle, so he was able to push the boy back and temporarily disarm him, but Kyle jumped out of the range of Cress' sword before the headband sporting swordsman could take a slice out of him. After Cress missed, Kyle jumped back towards him, his sword glowing slightly.

"Slag Assault!" He yelled as he plunged his sword into the ground. Rock debris flew up at Cress, who retaliated by jumping into the air.

"Rising Phoenix!" Cress yelled as he plummeted back down to the ground cloaked in flames. Kyle raised his sword to deflect Cress away, but the flames bent around his sword and licked at his body. Kyle jumped back to get out of the fire and patted his hair in case any of it was on fire to put it out. While Kyle was distracted, Cress attacked again. "Void Tempest!" The three slashes of the Arte raked across Kyle's chest, causing him to yelp in pain and double over. However, he quickly returned to his unsteady feet.

"Is that it?" Kyle taunted. "Lemme show you how it's done! Stone Zapper!" Three pebbles magically appeared from his blade and fly towards Cress, only one of which conked him on the head like a coconut.

"Ow…" Cress said, rubbing his sore head. "You can use magic? You don't seem to be very good at it…" Kyle smirked.

"That's not all I can do… Voltaic Heat!" Kyle pointed his sword into the air, and a green sparkle rose quickly, only to descend a second later upon Cress, blowing him aside with a gale. In midair, however, Cress recovered and started moving back upon Kyle, sword ready to strike him down. The two of them were pretty much at a stalemate.

* * *

Reid was propped up against a wall in the dungeon, legs crossed, and mind having wandered out the small window in the cell. There was not much for any of them to do. Keele sighed.

"What is taking them so long to figure out what to do with us?" He pondered aloud. Chat sighed.

"Who knows?" She said. "Maybe they just want us to have time to think about our actions or something like that…" Under her breath, she added, "I just hope they haven't touched the Van Eltia at all…" At that moment, Meredy had skipped over to where Reid was and was watching him look aimlessly out the window.

"Is Reid alright?" She asked. Reid did not respond. He was completely lost in thought, thinking about being back home in Rasheans with Farah. Meredy frowned. "Reid!" She called, but got no response.

"Try holding his hand." Keele suggested. "The shock from the Fibrill should wake him up." Meredy's face lit up.

"Wake up, Reid!" She said as she grasped his hand. As expected, the glow emanated from their hands, and Reid jolted back to reality. He snatched his hand away from Meredy.

"Ow!" He said. "You know we can't touch! What was that for?" Keele answered the question for Meredy.

"You were daydreaming." He said. "None of us could get a word into your thick skull…" Reid frowned at Keele, but then sighed in defeat.

"Yeah, I guess I was just getting caught up with the fact that I'm so close, but so far away from home…" He changed positions so that now he lay on the floor, staring straight up at the ceiling. "I wonder how Kyle's doing…" He wondered aloud.

"Yeah, me too…" Max said, his voice filling the room. "He better not be dead yet…" Reid sat up.

"I dunno…" He said. "The only reason Keele, Farah, Meredy, and I were saved when we were nearly executed was because Chancellor Zosimos came in at the last second and cleared our names… There's nobody besides us who can clear Kyle's name…"

* * *

At that moment in the colosseum, Cress' sword was knocked out of his hands and clattered on the ground, followed seconds later by Cress himself. The blond fighter sat up to look at Kyle, who had just knocked him to the ground and smiled. "Well, what do you know?" He said, still sitting on the ground. "Looks like you outfought me. You win." Kyle smiled.

"Once we were on even grounds, this turned out to be a rather exhilarating fight." He said, offering Cress a hand back onto his feet. As soon as the headband wearing swordsman was back on his feet, their hands were still clasped together and they briskly shook hands. Nearby, the king had been watching in secret the entire time, and he was not happy with the results of the fight. He made a hand gesture, and a bunch of knights ran out onto the battlefield. Right before they had gotten over to the two swordsmen, Cress spotted them first.

"Watch out, Kyle!" He warned. But it was too late; the knights had swiftly grabbed both of his arms and caused Kyle to yell out in surprise. After the initial moment of shock, Kyle started to struggle.

"Let go of me!" He yelled as he thrashed about. Cress jumped back and reclaimed his sword. One of the knights spoke up.

"What are you waiting for, Sir Albane? Kill him!" The knight said. Kyle stared at Cress with longing eyes.

"Cress, please! Don't do it!" After giving his plea, he yelped in pain as one of the guards twisted his arm the wrong way a bit. Cress started to sheathe his sword.

"Why should I? He won fair and square." The knights were getting irritated now.

"Because, if you don't do it…" The other knight said. "You'll dishonorably discharged from the Inferian Army and executed for treason. Is that what you want? To be known for treason?" Cress' eyes widened.

"T-treason?" He exclaimed. "I didn't do anything wrong!" He quickly came up with a lie. "My order was to fight the fugitive, that's all!"

"Incorrect!" The first knight said. "The order was to _kill_ the fugitive! Now, you still have a chance to redeem yourself in our eyes…" Kyle still stared innocently at Cress.

"Cress…" He said softly. "Don't do it… Please…" Cress looked away from Kyle as if his gaze was dishonoring him. He unsheathed his sword again and pointed it at Kyle.

"I'm sorry, Kyle…" He said. "This is my duty as a soldier… I'll try to make this as painless as possible…" Cress lifted the sword over his head as Kyle cringed away, expecting the worst.

However, right at that moment, a loud, high pitched shriek pierced the air. Everybody stopped and looked around to see what had made that noise. In the next second, there was another shriek and a black dragonlike monster appeared over the stadium. The audience began to mutter nervously. Kyle, Cress, and the knights stared up at it, wondering what it was going to do. Suddenly, in the next second, it nosedived straight for Kyle and the knights. All three of them tried to get out of the way of the monster's descent, but it rose into the air again at the last second, scooping up Kyle as it ascended. He shouted in terror as he was lifted into the air and then was being flown away from the colosseum in the monster's grasp. The knights started cursing at the dragon while Cress stared up at the dragon in confusion. He had no idea whether it was a good thing that the dragon monster had rescued Kyle at the last second or if it was a bad thing because it might try to make Kyle into its lunch. However, at the last second before it disappeared out of sight, Cress could have sworn that he saw a person on the dragon's back and he smiled – whomever was riding that creature had just rescued Kyle.

* * *

**Author's Final Note: **So, can you figure out what just happened? What do you think the rest of the team is going to think about Kyle being kidnapped by a dragon? I hate to leave you all at a cliffhanger with no idea when I'll ever get around to writing another chapter, but I must. My mental capacity has been exhausted. DX Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and leave good reviews! ^^ *shot*


	21. Chapter 36: The Drake Rider

**Two Destinies Chapter 36: The Drake Rider**

**Author's Preface: **Well, what do you know? I actually found enough time to write up another chapter! And it hasn't even been a week since the old chapter came out! Wow! Either I'm getting lazier with my schoolwork or I'm getting my homework done a lot faster and finding a lot more time for writing. But no matter… Aren't you glad you guys all have some new reading material? *shot* Enjoy~~~

**Warning: **This chapter contains a bit of coarse language (even if it's only two of the same word uttered by the same person within a sentence of the other utterance). Beware.

* * *

"_Kyle? Shannon?"_

"_Hey, where did you two kids run off to?"_

"_Dear Atamoni! Kyle! NO!" Kyle continued to hear the voice of his father directly over his head sobbing miserably. He wanted to open his eyes and embrace his father with loving arms and words, but his eyes (as well as the rest of his body, for that matter) refused to cooperate. Instead, he just had to listen to his father continue to cry. Eventually, his father spoke solemnly between two distraught sobs. "Kyle…" He sniffled. "I can't believe anybody would do such a thing to you… Why would anybody murder you so brutally?" Kyle was absolutely horrified upon hearing this. He was trapped inside his own dead body? As he thought about it more, his thoughts returned to the dream that he'd had last time, where his heart had supposedly been torn out, and he wondered if this was a follow-up to that dream. At that moment, Kyle heard his mother's voice and snapped out of his reverie._

"_Holy Atamoni! What the hell happened to our son, Stahn?"_

"_I don't have any idea, Rutee!" Stahn replied. "I just found him like this… And I can't find Shannon anywhere!"_

"_Well get your ass back into that cave and find our daughter!" Rutee yelled at Stahn. "Look, if you come out with Shannon looking as horrible as Kyle is, I'll have your ass mounted over the fireplace! Let me take Kyle so you can head back in!" Kyle was completely confused at this point. His mother had just called this Shannon person her "daughter", but Kyle was an only child… Or was he?

* * *

_

At this point, Kyle's eyes started to work again and he found himself waking up to the sight of an azure blue sky with a few cumulus clouds dotting it. He took a silent breath, but something around his neck was constricting his breathing. He put a hand over his neck and was surprised to feel a ribbon wrapped around his neck. Just then, he heard the sound of a woman laughing next to him. Upon quickly turning to see who the owner of the voice was, he nearly fell off of whatever he was riding on, only to be caught by some woman with shoulder length black hair, gray eyes, a star tattoo on one arm, and a minimalistic black outfit with long tan pants. She lifted Kyle back onto what seemed to be the back of a dragon and continued to laugh.

"Having fun?" She asked, looking back at Kyle. He was completely confused.

"…Mom?" He asked innocently, seeing a strange likeness between this woman and his own mother. The woman had to double take and nearly sent the dragon that they were riding on into a nosedive before regaining control seconds later. Her face lit up with a combination of indignation and embarrassment.

"'Mom'?" She scolded. "I'm too young to be a mother to somebody your age, you stupid kid!" After saying this, she slapped Kyle across the face and added under her breath, "Hmph… What nerve… After I had saved you and everything…" After his cheek stopped throbbing, Kyle took a closer look at the woman and realized that she wasn't his mom. Kyle's face turned bright red.

"S-sorry, Miss…" He apologized. "It's just that you look a lot like my mother did when she was younger… I didn't mean to offend you or… Ngh…" Kyle tugged a little at the ribbon around his throat again that was trying to strangle him after it cut his apology off. The woman chuckled.

"Heh, guess I might have put that on too tight…" After saying this, the woman swiftly moved behind Kyle and brushed his hair aside to start fiddling with the ribbon.

"What are you doing?" Kyle asked, trying to look back at her. Instead, she used one hand to move his head back to a forward position and continued to fuss with the ribbon.

"Don't move your head, kid!" She said. "I'm trying to fix this thing so it doesn't choke you anymore, and that's hard to do when your hair is in my face…"

"Kyle…"

"Huh?"

"My name is Kyle. Kyle Dunamis. I'd rather you call me that than just 'kid'…" The woman stopped for a brief second as she tried to figure out what he had just said before chuckling a little and continuing to mess with the ribbon.

"Marone. My name is Marone Blucarno." Marone continued to fuss with the ribbon for another second before returning to her original position on the dragon's back. "There." She said. "That shouldn't choke you anymore, Kyle." Indeed, Kyle was able to breathe freely now, even if he still couldn't see what she had put around his neck. "It's just a simple light blue ribbon tied in the back." Marone said, answering the question that had popped into Kyle's head. "You can see it once we get down." This statement brought up another question.

"Wait, where are we going, Marone?" He asked, his right index finger and thumb still wrapped around the ribbon on his neck.

"We're heading to Morle right now. You know where that is, right, Kyle?" Kyle looked away from Marone. He had no idea where that was, and he assumed that Marone wouldn't accept the reason why he had no idea. "Oh, that's right… You're not from this world, are you?" Kyle looked up at Marone quickly in shock.

"Huh?" He said. "How do you know?" Marone chuckled as she looked back at Kyle.

"I heard you claim that when you were protesting to the king." She said. "In fact, I heard everything you said to him." Kyle blinked once in surprise. "I don't know if there really are any worlds out there besides Eternia, but I don't think it's right for you to be persecuted just because we haven't found any other worlds… I'd like to believe there are other worlds…"

"But there are!" Kyle protested. "I'm the proof of it! My world is very different than Eternia – we have two moons and we don't have another planet attached to ours by some kind of barrier, and Inferians and Celestians live together in peace!" The last sentence caused Marone to look back at Kyle in shock for a second before she turned forward again a second later.

"A world where Inferians and Celestians live together in peace, huh?" She repeated. Quietly, so that Kyle couldn't hear, she added, "Wouldn't that be great…"

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the dungeon, the rest of the team was still waiting, completely bored out of their minds. There was absolutely nothing for any of them to do but lounge about or fall asleep. Reid had once again lapsed into his thoughts of Rasheans with Farah, but he was quickly snapped out of them when he heard two pairs of heavy boots thunder down a set of stairs. Within a few seconds, Roen ran over to the prison cell where Reid and his friends were and banged on the cell door. A second later, he started to scream at the top of his lungs.

"WHERE IS HE?" Roen yelled. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU HIDE HIM?" Everybody stared at Roen like he had five heads. Not only did nobody have any idea what he was talking about, but they had never seen Roen this pissed off before. Keele spoke up first.

"I don't follow…" He said. "What are you talking about?" Roen gave Keele a death glare, which caused the poor scholar to straighten up in shock and have a bead of sweat roll down the back of his neck.

"Stop playing stupid! I know it was you guys who sent that dragon to rescue your little blond friend!" This was news to everybody, and they all exchanged smiles of relief now that they knew that Kyle was safe. Reid was still slightly concerned about the dragon, though.

"Dragon?" He asked. "What kind of dragon?" Roen's death glare moved from Keele to Reid, who didn't even flinch at all.

"You know very well what kind of dragon it was, Reid Hershel!" Roen barked. "You're the one who sent that damned flying lizard to save your friend!" Reid sighed.

"Look, Roen, I don't have the ability to tame dragons…" He said. "It certainly wasn't me… Besides, I had no idea that Kyle had even been rescued until you said anything…"

"YOU LIAR!" Roen yelled. "Tell me where you hid the boy, or I'll have your head roll!" Just then, the other person who had come down the stairs tried to pry Roen off of the cell bars.

"Roen, calm down. I think they're telling the truth…" At that moment, Roen threw the other person off of his arm and pointed at him.

"This is all your fault, Cress Albane! If you weren't so weak and wishy-washy, that damned boy would be dead right now!" Cress stood back up quickly and glared at Roen for a second before socking the knight captain in the face, causing Roen to fall to the floor unconscious. The others were surprised and impressed by the blond haired knight. He turned around and faced the imprisoned heroes.

"So, you guys are all Kyle's friends?" He asked. Meredy twirled around.

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "We are all friends with Kyle!"

"I see…" Cress said. "Anyways, judging by your reactions, I'm assuming that you guys weren't behind the dragon kidnapping, then, right?"

"YEAH!" Max shouted.

"Did you see what happened, Cress?" Chat inquired. The blond knight nodded.

"Indeed. I saw the dragon swoop down and pick up Kyle and then fly over the stadium. I also happened to notice that there was a woman riding on the back of the dragon…" Keele gasped.

"A woman riding on the dragon?" He said in admiration. "But those creatures have always been very hard – nearly impossible – to domesticate! She must be very talented!" Reid quickly became embarrassed by Keele's behavior, but he focused back on Cress.

"Say, is there any way you could help us get out of this dungeon?" He inquired. The blond knight looked down at Roen for a second, and then looked back at Reid and smiled. He bent down and picked up a small set of keys from Roen and stared at them.

"I hope one of these is the correct key…" He said as he stared at the set.

"I just hope you get us out before _he _gets up…" Chat said, pointing at Roen. Cress shrugged and then started trying different keys in the lock. He had tried four of them when Roen started to stir. Everybody froze. However, he didn't reawaken, and everybody sighed with relief. Cress started messing around with the keys again. Three keys later, he finally found a key that fit into the hole and unlocked the cell. Everybody rushed out of it and headed for the stairs behind Cress. While they were running, Reid picked up the conversation.

"Which way did the dragon go after leaving the colosseum?" He asked.

"I'm not exactly sure…" Cress responded. "It went in a southwestern direction, I think…"

"Southwest, huh?" Reid said, pondering as to where the dragon might be going. His thoughts were broken when he heard Keele pipe up.

"I know!" He said. "The dragon probably headed towards Morle. Maybe we should head for there!" At that moment, Reid looked back to see if Cress was still following them and, strangely enough, the blond haired knight had seemingly vanished into thin air. Reid was completely puzzled.

"Let's go to Morle!" Meredy chirped, distracting Reid from his thoughts.

"How are we going to get there, though?" Chat inquired. "I have no idea where the Van Eltia is!" Keele snapped his fingers.

"Leave it to me!" He raised his Craymel Cage into the air. "Sylph! Aerialboards!" Just then, the green hoverboards made of wind appeared before them all. There were only four boards, so Meredy and Chat shared one while Keele, Max, and Reid rode their own. After quickly teaching Max how to drive his Aerialboard, they all zoomed off faster than they could have gone on foot, now heading for Morle to hopefully meet up with Kyle again.

* * *

The dragonlike creature eventually landed on top of a tall tree to let Marone and Kyle get off of its back. Marone quickly turned around and petted the creature on its head.

"Thank you for getting us here quickly, Varossa." She said. The dragon snorted happily in return. Kyle crossed his arms and watched them.

"Varossa, huh?" He eventually commented. "Is that the dragon's name?" Marone turned around.

"Yes, that's the name I gave him." She said sternly. "And Varossa is not a dragon – he's a drake. You can tell by the difference in size. Dragons are usually about twice the size of Varossa here, and he's a rather large drake." Kyle's eyes widened.

"So dragons are pretty huge, then…" He said. Marone nodded.

"Anyways, as I'm assuming you've never been here before, let's head down so you can see the rest of Morle." At that moment, Marone jumped up and then disappeared into the tree canopy. Kyle nodded to nobody and then tried to jump through and land on another branch below, but instead, he started falling to the ground, yelling in surprise. However, something caught him out of thin air by his left ankle – Marone. She hoisted him up onto the branch where he was and let him catch his breath.

"Geez…" Kyle groaned. "Thanks for the save, Marone…" The drake rider chuckled.

"How about you just follow my lead so you don't plummet to the ground next time?" She suggested. Kyle silently nodded in agreement and then proceeded to follow her lead, jumping from branch to branch until they finally got to solid ground. Upon reaching the ground, Kyle looked back up into the trees and was astounded by the sight.

"Wow…" He said in amazement. "An entire village in the trees… We don't have any cities like this back home…"

"You should be safe here for a while from those pesky Inferian knights." Marone said. "Nobody gets through the Forest of Temptation quickly, if at all…" Kyle turned to Marone.

"But what about my friends?" He asked with a concerned tone. "How are they going to find me?" Marone raised an eyebrow.

"You have friends, huh?" She said. "Well, you should really hide here until things calm down back in Inferia City, but if you'd like, I can bring you right back into the mousetrap right now…" The teasing tone was heavy upon her voice. Kyle paused for a few seconds before sighing in defeat.

"Never mind…" He said. "I should just stay here and wait for them to come find me…" Marone shrugged.

"The Forest of Temptation is really dangerous, but they would only go through it if they knew you were here in the first place…" She said. "Don't worry, if worse comes to worse, I can bring you back to Inferia City…"

"I'll stay here in Morle for a while." Kyle conceded. "Like you said, the city must be in a panic if they're looking for me…" After saying that, Kyle turned away from Marone to continue looking at the new surroundings and, at that moment, he spotted a small puddle nearby and ambled over to it. Upon bending down to see his reflection, he saw a simple light blue ribbon lightly tied around his neck, just as Marone had said. He placed one hand on it as he continued to look at himself. A second later, Marone's reflection appeared over his.

"You like it?" She asked. Kyle nodded slowly.

"It matches my pants." He said distantly, continuing to stare at the reflection. At that moment, the reflection changed suddenly. Marone's face was gone and Kyle was staring at himself wearing that green and black outfit from his dream again. Another thing he noticed was that his eyes had changed color and were a lighter blue than his own. After looking at this strange reflection for a few seconds, his vision became blurry and, though he wasn't aware of it, he fainted.

* * *

During the period where Kyle was passed out, he found himself completely surrounded by darkness, but, unlike the last dream he had, he was able to see himself. Also differing from the other dreams, he was still wearing his usual clothes. At that moment, Kyle realized that there was another person there with him, but his eyes opened wide when he realized who it was.

It was himself…

However, this Kyle was wearing the green and black outfit that he had seen in the reflection and his eyes were the lighter blue color, as well. The eyes, however, looked aimlessly at the ground emptily, seemingly devoid of life. His arms were also pinioned above his head as if he was being shackled by something over his head. Curious, Kyle took one step forward, and the floor hummed beneath his feet, surprising him. The other Kyle gasped quietly and looked up to stare at him for a second, his lighter blue eyes regaining their life. The two Kyles looked into each other's eyes for a second before the lighter eyed Kyle spoke up.

"Help me!" He yelled fearfully with the same voice as the darker eyed Kyle while struggling to no avail against his invisible chains. "Please, you have to save me!" The darker eyed Kyle gasped and tried to move forward to save his other self, but he found that his body wouldn't move. Instead, his arms also magically moved themselves up over his head so that he was in the same pose as his other self. He struggled as well against whatever was holding his arms up, but, like his other self, he could not escape. The lighter eyed Kyle stared at him in fear for a second before he threw his head skyward and started screaming in agony.

* * *

At this moment, Kyle woke up screaming as well. He was hyperventilating for a few seconds while Marone appeared out of seemingly nowhere and ran over to him. "Are you okay, Kyle?" She asked. Once Kyle had regained his breath, he replied.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" He said. "It was just a nightmare…" He looked around the room as thoughts began to swirl through his head. _What was the meaning of that nightmare, though? What was with that other me?_

Little did neither Marone nor Kyle realize that somebody was watching them from the shadows…

* * *

**Author's Final Note:** Things just keep getting weirder and weirder, don't they? Anyways, seeing as I've introduced Marone Blucarno, I bet you guys can guess who's going to show up some time in the near future, right? That's right, Corrina Solgente! (And yes, I'm spelling it like that rather than Coreena, which looks more like a portmanteau (lolbigword) of Corrine x Sheena from Tales of Symphonia.) How is the story going to be different with the addition of the Tales of Eternia Anime exclusive characters? Just wait and see~~~ (and leave a review in the meantime! *shot*)


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